Another Realm VI: Chevalier
by Katkiller-V
Summary: One war has ended, another has begun, and the complications seem to never bloody end. If I'm not dealing with relationship problems, I'm dealing with leadership problems... and just when both of those look like they're settled, I get to be thrown head-first into the bloody waters of Terminus politics. Dammit, but some days I really just want to leave all of this to someone else.
1. Prologue I: A Shadowy Game

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Another Realm VI: Chevalier**

 _Where I'm an addict and just can't stop myself from posting. Kicking this one off with something a little different, hoping you all enjoy it._

 _Usual credit to the Blocked Writer for serving as my beta and telling me when I have bad and good ideas. Additional thanks to GreaterGoodIreland for the TvTropes page on the series._ _Last note before we begin, I did create a forum for this series, the link can be found on my profile page; alternatively you can simply search this site's forums for 'Another Realm'_

 _With the thanking and stuff out of the way... here we go again._

 _~ Kat_

* * *

 _ **Prologue I: A Shadowy Game**_

 _Date:_ 01-25-2185

 _Location:_ Zakera Ward, Citadel

* * *

 **The Huntress**

( _Nikita Korolev)_

Ignoring the screaming, flying blood, and detonating biotics from the brawl occupying my living room, I forced myself to focus entirely on the assassin currently trying to kill me. She let out a snarl as I seized her wrist, my strong arms shoving her own limb up and away so that the silenced pistol discharged into my kitchen ceiling rather than into my skull.

The Asari maiden let out a breathy curse, but her youth and arrogance were showing. Rather than trying to free her weapon up, she started to glow with biotics, clearly intending on channeling some kind of horribly deadly amount of dark energy right into my body.

Her nose broke when my forehead slammed into it, her concentration vanishing with a high-pitched yelp of pain. She reeled back, and even with my vision swimming a little from the headbutt I'd just delivered, I snapped my right hand up to slam it into her throat just like Ash had taught me.

She collapsed with a pained gurgling noise, dropping her gun to clutch at her throat with both hands... very much proving that she wasn't exactly an expert combatant. Ignoring her twitching, I dropped to a crouch and scooped up her weapon. I flinched even as I put a single round through her gaping mouth, my stomach rolling in disgust as blood sprayed out from her broken skull.

 _Oh god... I hate this..._

 _Not now._ Detective Nikita snapped from the driver's seat, rising to a low crouch and listening as the fighting wound down in time with a dying whimper from another Asari.

"Front room is clear." A man's cold voice announced quietly, his voice still managing to carry despite its lack of volume.

"Back is clear." I replied, rising to my feet as my limbs started to shake. _Already?_

 _Yes!_

There was a mental scoff at myself as the nausea rose up, the pistol dropping from my fingers as I got a better look at what had happened in the rest of my home. Asari and... pieces of Asari were everywhere, purple blood doing absolutely nothing for the décor even as the stench of it reached my noise.

Standing in the middle of the tableau was the man who'd saved me by dealing with the other three assassins while I'd handled just the one, his hands cleaning more blood of off his sword as he regarded me through a blank visor that covered just his eyes.

"So..." I asked weakly, trying not stare at the sheer amount of blood now covering him, and my home. "Is this the part where you say something cliched?"

Kai Leng, Cerberus assassin, and the reason my right arm was filled with cybernetics, flicked the last bit of blood off of his blade before sheathing it. When he spoke, it was in the same utterly flat voice, though somehow it still conveyed amusement, "Come with me if you want to live."

I swallowed, stared at him, then at the three dead Asari who'd been about to murder me, then back at him before forcing myself to nod. Questions about why _Cerberus_ was saving my life could wait until we'd gotten somewhere safe.

Or at least, until I found a way to get away from him as well as avoiding the assassins sent someone I'd thought was on our side.

It took another effort to clear my throat, "Panic bag is in my closet near the door."

One corner of his mouth might have twitched in approval, and he nodded in turn before motioning for me to go first. I did so, rushing down the short hallway and yanking the appropriate door open so that I could grab the small backpack there. A quick check confirmed that everything was still inside, and I quickly grabbed my similarly prepared time-to-run-away coat after a similar go-over.

 _The pistol Tali made for me, check. Ration bars, check. Canteens, check. Spare clothes, check. Medigel patches, check._

There was a snort from my inner detective, _Told you this would come in handy. I also told you to keep it in the bedroom rather than the front closet._

 _Not. Now._

Yanking the coat on, and pulling the pack over my shoulders, I nodded to the patiently waiting sociopath. He nodded back, and opened my apartment door to reveal a handsome, dark skinned man standing guard in casual clothing.

My eyes flicked up and down on reflex, categorizing everything I could notice in the handful of seconds that I had.

 _Military, or ex-military. Back is rigid, probably a shoulder holster to conceal a pistol or collapsed shotgun from the way he's standing,_ My inner cynic rattled off as I risked a few seconds to get a feel for him. _Eyes are constantly moving, looking for danger, but he's doing it slowly, not panicked. Not his first rodeo._

 _Good,_ I replied to myself, having long ago gotten to used to my own particular insanity. _Right now I'll take a bit of professional protection._

"Ma'am." He nodded tightly as the assassin and I exited my place, "There's at least four more of T'Ravt's acolytes nearby, it's my job to get you off the Citadel."

I swallowed, "What about everyone else?"

"Another team is already escorting Doctor T'Soni." He supplied, his head continuing to flick up and down the hallway. "They'll be meeting up with us soon, but right now we have to move. It won't be long before C-Sec gets involved."

And Ash, James, and the other marines would be safe given that they would be at the Alliance embassy, and Tali and Jack were already off station and off to God knows where. Well, Tali was headed back home, it was more Jack who'd up and vanished after getting smashed at the funeral.

 _Think later, neighbors will be calling C-Sec._

I nodded to myself and to him, resisting the urge to lock the door behind me as if I was just stepping out for coffee. "What hangar?"

"Public nineteen." Leng supplied, his own head on a swivel before he nodded once. "Taylor, take her to the rendezvous point, I will clear the service corridors."

"Sir." The soldier, Taylor, nodded and then motioned with an arm for me to get moving, "Ma'am, this should be the fastest route."

I quickly brought up my mental map of my home district, my legs already moving as I made sure that they weren't trying to lure me somewhere else.

Taylor kept talking even as the more lethal man vanished through a normally sealed service door. "Do you have a weapon?"

"Yes." I didn't bother telling him where it was or what kind, "Do you know what's going on? Why is Matriarch T'Ravt trying to kill us?"

"The details are above my pay-grade ma'am." He replied politely as we reached the nearest stairwell, one of his arms rising to hold me back while he carefully checked the doorway. "All I know is that she wants you dead, she wants Doctor T'Soni taken alive, and she's got enough fingers in C-Sec to stop them from interfering. We're here to help."

 _No weapon while he did that... probably a biotic then._

 _And probably telling the truth,_ I exhaled as I kept following him, the pair of us taking the stairs as quickly as we could without falling, _Dammit... I didn't..._

 _You didn't want her to be involved with Shepard's death?_

I really hadn't. I'd wanted to still have hope that T'Ravt, while definitely lying to me about a lot of things, had still been someone opposed to...

 _She is opposed to the reapers,_ my cynic reminded me, _That's why none of this makes any goddamned sense. Why help Shepard clear out Saren's network... and then assassinate her?_

Teeth bit my lip as we reached the bottom landing, and I shook my head. _Worry later, survive now._

 _Oh now you've got a sense of priorities..._

Ignoring my self-directed sarcasm, I followed Taylor out into the apartment complex's main lobby. The usual staff were still alive, both Salarians glancing up as we headed for the exit, though neither managed to say anything before we'd shoved the front doors open and entered the mildly busy street.

Turning right, we got moving along with the general traffic, heading in the general direction of the nearest set of public hangars. We'd gone about thirty yards before my omni-tool flashed with an incoming message, the cheerful sound of Liara's ring-tone making me jump and collide with Taylor, who grunted in surprise as he caught me.

"Sorry." I muttered sheepishly, flicking my fingers to accept the call and send it to the comm-bead in my left ear. "Liara?"

" _Nikita. Thank the goddess you're alive."_ The Asari exhaled audibly, " _Are you moving? Do you have an escort?"_

"Yes, you?"

A woman with a faint Australian accent spoke instead of my friend, " _We are secure and waiting for you, Operative Leng has just dealt with two snipers who were waiting in the public square just ahead of your position."_

The muscles in my back tightened a little in reflexive fear. I'd thought that we'd be reasonably safe in the crowd, at least until we got to the hangar complex. "That's... they were going to shoot us down in public?"

A touch of confusion entered the woman's voice. " _Are you honestly surprised? Did you not frequently liaise with her?"_

I had... and now that I had a few moments to think about it, I wasn't as surprised as I wanted to be. T'Ravt had never shied away from the brutality of her business, though she'd at least... well, she'd at least given me the impression that she preferred to avoid excessive collateral damage. I supposed the latter was at least something I could rely on, otherwise she might have just bombed my building instead of having her people hack through my door to murder me in private.

Swallowing a little at the memory of their entrance, and Kai Leng's arrival not a minute later, I changed the topic to something more relevant. "Liara, are you sure you're all right?"

" _For now, yes."_ She assured me, _"We're in an unmarked freighter, Joker and Doctor Chakwas are also here."_

I blinked a little. The last I'd heard they'd both been headed back to Earth for re-assignment... oh, right. Cerberus had probably saved them or managed to warn them ahead of time, and had enough evidence to convince them to ally. Temporarily, at least.

I hoped.

I really, _really_ hoped. Being saved by the same guy who'd sliced my biceps to ribbons was surreal enough, I wasn't sure I could manage if _Cerberus_ turned out to be good guys who were just a tad racist, but also horribly misunderstood.

We made it down one street, up a public stairwell, and then into the nearest common area without any more issues. Kai Leng's quietly vicious voice tracked our progress as we moved, and I had to fight the urge to look up to try and find him as he kept pace above.

Things didn't get worse until we were about two blocks away, the unnamed Cerberus woman coming through on my earpiece again. " _We have a new problem, C-Sec headquarters just put out an arrest warrant for Korolev, homicide."_

I couldn't help but flinch. "They _what?"_

" _Your liaison in the local office, Bailey, is stalling, requesting clarification."_ She continued rapidly, ignoring my question entirely. " _You both need to move."_

 _She's right,_ Detective Nikita reminded me, _As soon as they stop him from stalling, Bailey will tap the commercial scanners._

I grimaced at the real threat of that. Even if I disabled my omni-tool, some of those stupid things used facial recognition, and in either case C-Sec's official detection grid around the public hangar would pick me up long before we arrived.

"-have to run." Taylor was speaking, as I made faces at myself, his own expression clearly a little alarmed. "Are you all right?"

"Running won't help, but you can go on ahead safely. It's just me that...needs an alternate route." My throat went a little dry at who I was about to spend more time with, "L-Leng, I need a way into the service walks."

" _To your left."_ The assassin rasped promptly.

I stopped moving and turned, Taylor stutter-stepping before cursing and continuing on without me. For a moment I only saw a bright billboard advertising a nearby restaurant, then my eyes adjusted enough to let me see a keeper standing motionless in the dark corner behind it. Just above that was a catwalk, a crouched figure just visible as it nodded towards me.

 _You've got to be kidding me..._

 _Yeah._ Shaking my head, I casually headed that way, trying to fight the urge to fidget or put a hand in my pocket to finger the very illegal pistol there. Don't get me wrong, I was beyond thankful to Tali for having built it for me, but I didn't exactly have Shepard's Spectre clearance to let me carry the thing around anymore.

 _Stop worrying about breaking a law! They're already blaming you for three dead Asari maidens, are they going to add a two year sentence for an illegal firearm on top of the firing squad?_

Twitching a little at the internal reminder, I slid into the small alcove with barely any of the sparse crowd seeming to notice or care where I'd gone.

"Be quick." Leng muttered down. "Potential movement nearby."

That didn't help much, but I forced myself to nod as I regarded the insectoid creature before me. Touching it would probably kill it, its internal acids breaking it apart within a minute or two after it processed that I wasn't just accidentally brushing up against it.

 _Oh come on, the thing isn't even really alive and you know it. Do you want to live, or do you want to be found dead in a C-Sec holding cell tomorrow?_

There were days when I really hated myself. Twisting my lips, and then swallowing heavily, I bounced twice on my heels to work up my nerves and remember old gymnastics classes before rushing forwards. The Keeper didn't so much as shift when I landed on its back, my legs quickly kicking me upwards before I lost my balance.

Kai Leng grabbed my flailing hands, a quiet grunt escaping him as he fought to haul my stocky body up. I kicked my legs against the wall to help, and eventually we managed to get me up there with him.

I wasn't sure which of us let go of the other first, but neither of us wasted more than a millisecond once I was secure.

Whatever respect I'd gained from being ready to flee my home at a moment's notice vanished as I sucked in a few heavy breaths and shook out the stinging in my entirely natural left arm.

I glowered up at his patronizing expression... at least until I saw the flicker behind him that came just as a silenced round hit him in the back. His armor took the blow, though it still drove him a step forwards. He somehow converted the motion into a whirling spin that drew his stupid sword, clearly intending on beheading the now-visible Asari assassin.

She didn't cooperate with that plan, hammering him with a quick punch and a bit of channeled biotic power to send him another few steps back, and then turning her pistol towards my much less protected body.

My finger pulled the gun's trigger twice, sending two phasic rounds through her barriers to impact her forehead. Purple blood, brain matter, and bits of her skull sprayed backwards even as people began to shout in the corridor below us.

Hauling myself to my feet, cynical Nikita kept her place in the driver's seat as I quickly stalked over to the body, keeping my weapon on her as my eyes snapped in every direction to check if there was any other threats around.

After several frantic heartbeats, she retreated back, leaving me shaking and nauseated once again as I stared at the broken corpse at my feet. It took a second try to safety my weapon before shoving it back into my coat pocket, swallowing and shuddering as I realized I'd now killed _two_ living beings in the last fifteen minutes.

Leng didn't waste time feeling the same rush of nauseated self-loathing that I habitually indulged in after being forced to kill someone, instead he simply grabbed my shirt and hauled me into motion.

We didn't run into anyone else on the short trip, which I was thankful for. It gave me time to pull my fractured mind back together.

"You fight well." Kai Leng remarked as he worked at bypassing the door controls to the hangar, "React poorly after. Odd."

I sucked in a slow breath as the memory of what I'd just done continued to linger, changing the topic to something else I'd noticed. "I've seen you fight. She couldn't have pushed you back even if she'd been out of her mind on red sand."

He glanced over at me, his expression as stupidly blank as ever. It seriously annoyed me, if only because I was usually very good at reading other humans... but Leng was like a blank sociopathic wall.

"You... wanted to see if I could defend myself." I swallowed. "If I was smart enough to have a hand on my gun."

The 'and you wouldn't have been really broken up if I'd been an idiot and _died'_ was inserted between the lines. He seemed to hear it all the same from the tiny twitch to his mouth, but his only other response was to keep his visor on me for several more seconds before returning to his work without a word.

 _I really hate him._

 _Yeah... I really, really hate him._

Barely waiting for him to check the other side of the door for anymore assassins, I all but launched myself through it in an effort to just get away from him.

The small hangar proved to be holding a small personal freighter, just as Liara had indicated, and the Doctor in question was pacing back and forth in front of the main boarding ramp as we entered on the level above her. Getting down didn't take long, though my feet had barely cleared the steps before she'd all but tackled me in a hug.

"Thank the goddess you're all right. You are all right aren't you?" Hands grabbed my arms as she pushed me back, frantically looking up and down my body. "There's blood on you!"

"It's not mine." I quickly reached up to grab her arms, trying to sound as reassuring as I could as I pulled her back into the embrace. "At my home...and... another one was on the catwalks with us."

"Goddess." Liara repeated quietly, squeezing me gently before we broke apart. "It's all gone wrong, hasn't it? Ever since..."

She visibly couldn't bring herself to finish that statement, and I bit my lip and nodded to show her that I understood all the same.

"I'm sorry to rush you both." I glanced over to see Taylor standing on the ramp, his expression grave, "But we have to leave before they track you to this hangar, or else we won't even get close to a relay."

We collected ourselves and nodded, quickly heading over and following him onto the ship. The interior was as slightly worn but functional seeming as the exterior had been, and I followed Liara through the narrow corridor up to the cockpit even as the engines thrummed to life behind us.

Joker was wearing a battered Blue Jays ball cap instead of his usual Alliance service hat, and there were deep bags beneath his eyes, but his stubbly face still split in his usual grin as he saw us.

"Holmes and Watson, here at last. We finally ready to get going then?"

Liara merely sighed at the nicknames, while I merely smiled, glad for the distraction from what I'd just seen... and had to do.

My smile lasted until the other human present rose from her seat, my eyes shifting to take her in and... woah.

 _Someone went a little overboard with surgeries._

 _No... shit._

You could run her down like a male-dream checklist... about the only thing even a little off was the black hair that defied Alliance fashion by stretching far below her shoulders. I ran my usual analysis on auto-pilot, noting a few oddities as I did. Her stance was mildly military but not quite right, and there was a measure of uncertainty in how she held herself rather than the bold declarations I'd expect considering her body.

 _Maybe in-utero enhancements instead of plastic surgery?_

 _Maybe,_ I mused, _Her face doesn't give anything away, probably have to talk with her._

 _Her stupidly symmetrical, aristocratically gorgeous face you mean._

"Detective Korolev." The owner of the accented voice gave me a quick nod, her own eyes flicking up and down me in return. She seemed oddly satisfied with what she saw, which made me feel all the more self-conscious about my less than male-dream checklist body. "My name is Miranda Lawson, a pleasure to meet you."

"I... can't really say the same." I admitted once I got over my personal image issues, "Considering what happened the last time we ran into Cerberus."

Lawson had the grace to wince a little, the motion somehow genuine to my critical gaze. "Yes, I was... briefed on that operation. Suffice to say that circumstances have changed a great deal since then."

"Hey!" Joker interrupted, turning around in his chair with a glower at all three of us, "Can we do the catchup thing once we're underway? Kind of need a copilot until we're clear."

"Of course." The Cerberus woman dropped back into her seat, smoothly managing several sub-systems. Liara tugged me back while they were otherwise occupied, leading me back to a small lounge located right behind us.

We were the only ones present, Taylor and Kai-Leng having evidently vanished to the small cabins I'd seen after we'd gotten on board. The Doctor wasted little time in making sure that I'd gotten settled at the room's tiny table, taking my bag and coat, and silently making sure to remove my pistol from the latter.

"There were four of them at my apartment." She spoke as she sat, checking the thermal clip before pushing the weapon across the table. I took it reluctantly, understanding the need but still hating what I'd done with it, "Armed with everything they'd need to knock me unconscious and drag me away. I was barely able to evade them and hold out until Lawson and several other agents arrived."

"Three..." I swallowed as my left leg started to bounce, stress setting in in the wake of adrenaline and fear. "Three of them hacked their way through my front door while I was making lunch. Didn't even get a chance to go for my bag... if that... if Kai-Leng hadn't been there...God, even saying that makes me feel sick. _Cerberus_ saving us."

"Yes." Liara murmured quietly. "We can't trust them, that goes without saying, but... they've earned our attention for now."

I couldn't exactly argue with that, so I just nodded and sat quietly, trying to calm my nerves as I waited for whatever was going to happen next.

* * *

 _ **Next up is Prologue II: A New Quest**_

 _And starting this one out a little differently, covering Korolev and Liara's quest that was alluded to at the end of Einherjar. Prologue will likely be of the usual length, after which we'll be moving into a story built the same as AR:Terminus. Two main acts, with a six chapter mini-arc in between them from a separate point of view (Hint; name will be Operatic Memory)._

 _Little things of note in this one, mostly heavily working to establish some of the similarities and differences between Cieran and Nikita. Neither came out of what the Matriarch did to them well, after all._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _I've finally given in and decided to start up a p-atreon account, intended mostly to fund original stories that I'll be working on, but also with potential rewards for those fans of AR. It can be found at p a treon dot com /Zach_K2V_

 _You'll have to remove the spaces and replace the dot, this site apparently doesn't like the word in addition to its usual loathing of external links._


	2. Prologue II: A New Quest

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 _ **Prologue II: A New Quest**_

 _Date:_ 01-25-2185

 _Location: SS Lonesome Wanderer,_ en route to Omega

* * *

 **The Huntress**

Three hours later we were moving faster than light somewhere in the Attican Traverse, and we were all settling into the lounge to finally get some answers as to what this was about.

Karin Chakwas had emerged from her cabin shortly after we'd left the Citadel, and had wasted little time in making some tea for everyone. It was the usual blend that she gave me whenever I was stressed, and the familiar flavor did wonders in calming me down after the events of today. I'd still probably have to medicate myself before I slept to stave off any night terrors... but this was a good start.

For her part Liara had stayed right next to me the entire time, occasionally touching my arm as if to make sure that I was still alive and present.

 _She is not taking Shepard's death well..._

 _No shit Sherlock,_ I sighed mentally as I found her hand under the table, my calloused fingers wrapping around her slender digits. _I should have moved in with her instead of going back to my old apartment..._

 _Hindsight is twenty-twenty._

Joker had also limped carefully out to join us, his place in the pilot's chair having been taken by a male Cerberus agent whose name I hadn't caught. He'd settled into a side chair a little away from us girls, though for once he'd refrained from making any smart-ass comments.

Apart from the four of us, Lawson and Taylor were the only terrorists present, with Kai-Leng evidently considering this to be beneath him. According to Karin and Liara, there were three other people present on the ship, though all of them were apparently recovering from their fight to help Liara escape from her own attackers.

"What I'm about to tell you is not public knowledge outside of certain intelligence services, and likely only in the upper echelons of such organizations." Lawson began without any preamble, actually sighing as she began to pace the small room. "And outside of the senior Warlords in the Terminus."

I blinked as Liara frowned, the Asari leaning forwards onto the table. "The Terminus? What do they have to do with this?"

The human woman pursed her lips together, "Nearly everything, unfortunately, but I'll start at the beginning. A year and a half ago, we believe that the Shadow Broker was killed, and their organization broke apart into two warring groups. We believe that Matriarch T'Ravt leads one of the two factions."

I swallowed a little, "We already knew that. She told me just after it happened, and I relayed it to Shepard."

Lawson seemed momentarily surprised at that, but pushed on, "Did she inform you of who ran the other branch?"

My head shook, "No, just that they were the enemy and likely working for the Reapers."

"A lie then." She exhaled, "The other Broker is most likely Aethyta T'Voth, but-"

 _"What?"_ Liara gasped. _"_ How... _how?"_

The Cerberus woman stopped moving, seemed to wince, then sighed again. "During an infiltration mission into the Citadel Archives, we located evidence that Spectre Tela Vasir was also heavily employed as a Broker agent. Shortly before the original broker was killed, she was seen in the company of several of your... father's... old agents boarding a ship towards the Asari rim. Considering that she has since resumed her usual activities, her mentor is the most likely replacement."

I squeezed Liara'a hand gently as I spoke up, "Do you know where Aethyta is?"

"Unfortunately no." She shook her head as she resumed her pacing, "So far our only interactions with her organization have been to confirm the existence of an eldritch species known as the Leviathans, whom Matriarch T'Ravt seems to have allied herself with."

"Um..." I blinked. "No? Eldritch?"

She nodded once, then launched into a quick explanation of a Cerberus raid on a small Asari colony near the border of the Terminus. Detailed the ranting and raving of the staff about how their 'gods' would punish them, and their encounters with people who had been husked... though in a very different fashion than the same kind that we'd seen Sovereign and the Geth use.

That had been bad enough, but the description of the orbs and what they could do to someone made it all worse. The rooms where people had been forcibly exposed to them, and how hard an agent had apparently found it just to destroy one without succumbing despite being exposed for a matter of seconds.

How the Terminus was involved came next, with reports of Aria's army fighting _some_ unknown threat deep inside of Omega in the middle of the war, and how that engagement had almost immediately been followed by a rash of reports and warnings about said orbs. Orders to destroy them at a distance wherever possible, and to use suicide mechs to blow them apart when it wasn't.

"At this moment," Lawson grimaced, "We believe that the latest Terminus War may have even been influenced by the Matriarch on behalf of these creatures, attempting to weaken that region. From Commander Shepard's reports at what you found at Ilos... it may have been an effort to ensure Aria was too weak or distracted to discover the world before the Citadel could secure it."

Liara frowned, "To what end?"

Pale hands spread apart, "Frustratingly... we know almost nothing about her long term goals and plans, all we have is a series of unusual behaviors and strange incidents of interference."

 _Well..._ I looked down at the table as she went on, _That explains some things... she's against the Reapers because she's for whatever these Leviathan things are._

 _But why would she, and they, want Shepard dead now? Long term I can get, but why not wait until she's lead the fight against the reapers or find a way to 'help' her during that fight?_

"...we believe that she was responsible for placing a beacon aboard the SR-1, letting the Collectors track the ship once it had entered the system." Lawson continued, more or less echoing my own mental conversation, "We don't know _why_ she wanted the Spectre killed at this time, or why she's working with the Collectors, but we do know that she had agents in place to recover her."

Liara's fingers all but crushed mine, and nebulous blue-black light actually flared around her head and neck. "They _what_?"

The woman grimaced, "We have reason to believe that they intend to trade her to the Collectors in exchange for some kind of technology, our agent was killed before they could provide more details."

"They have her body..." The Asari whispered. "They... where is the deal being done?"

"Omega, I'm guessing." Joker finally spoke up, his expression haunted, "Since that's where we're headed."

There was a nod. "Our goal, if you're willing to assist, is to locate the place of said deal and recover Commander Shepard."

"Her body, you mean." Karin Chakwas murmured quietly.

Lawson exhaled heavily once again, "In all probability, yes. But there is a chance, a very slim one, that-"

"Don't you _dare_." Liara all but snarled, shaking loose of my grip as she surged to her feet. "Don't you dare imply that she's alive. I _felt_ her die!"

The enhanced woman opened her mouth, then shut it when Taylor cautiously stepped away from the wall and put a hand on her shoulder. "We know ma'am, we weren't implying that she might still be alive... but medical science has come a long way, and our employer is willing to push the limits as far as he can to secure any advantage against the Reapers."

Chakwas bristled. "You can't possibly mean that-"

" _If_ her body remained within the ship to protect it from re-entry, _if_ her armor initiated stasis lock to preserve her remains as it was supposed to, and _if_ her brain remained intact through re-entry and impact... it's _possible_ that the extreme temperatures on Alchera would preserve her sufficiently to allow revival." Lawson at least had the good sense to stress each if in that statement as she warily watched a still glowing Liara, "Please understand Doctor T'Soni, I do not mean to cause you distress or give you false hope... but it would be theoretically possible."

Liara stayed on her feet, her fists clenched and planted on the table as she inhaled and exhaled ragged breaths. "Karin...?"

The medical Doctor pursed her lips, almost grudgingly nodding. "There _have_ been medical texts that I am privy to about such attempts, though Huerta is the only partial-success recorded."

I flinched a little at the memory of the news debates I'd seen on that. "You can't do that to Shepard."

"Of course not." Lawson looked nettled at the very suggestion, "We would endeavor to revive her exactly as she was."

"With or without a slave control chip in her head?" Joker asked darkly, "I'm sure your boss would love a Spectre puppet."

"Such worries are precisely why Doctor Chakwas would be invited to supervise." We all blinked a little at that. "The Reapers are coming, and Shepard is the best candidate to lead the fight against them."

I grimaced. "Because she's human?"

"She's a natural leader, and has more than proven herself to the galaxy." Lawson replied, answering my question by not quite answering my question. "Are you willing to assist us in this?"

Three of us all glanced at the person most affected, Liara still not quite calm despite her eyes falling half closed as she visibly fought to maintain her composure. "We will help you recover Kaya."

"And..." I hesitated, "After that?"

Liara let out a ragged breath. "I... if she can be brought back.. if there's a... even a chance..."

And that was more or less that. I nodded in support as she sat down, and Joker had never really been a question either. Even with Liara constantly telling him that it wasn't his fault, the guy was obviously carrying out a few tons of guilt on his back. And wherever he went, Karin would follow, to take care of him if for no other reason.

The discussion wound down to what we could expect when we got to Omega, which Lawson admitted to knowing little about. An advanced team would apparently be waiting with word of where the meeting was going to happen, and hopefully a route that would let us avoid drawing Aria's attention if at all possible.

And if it turned out to be, the rest of us were to keep our mouths shut and let Lawson try and buy our way out of whatever situation developed.

That established, Joker limped back to his chair and confirmed we'd be at Omega in just a few days thanks to the oversized engines that Cerberus's engineers had managed to conceal in the ordinary looking ship. He and Doctor Chakwas, along with one of the unseen agents, would be staying with the ship on arrival, while the rest of us headed out.

"Doctor T'Soni, Detective Korolev," Lawson nodded to us in turn, "Your cabin door is marked... it will be rather cramped, but given the haste with which we had to move, this vessel was the only one with the appropriate speed. Inside you will find armor suited to fit, along with a few rations, though you are free to make use of what is in the galley."

 _And Cerberus knows our sizes... creepy._

 _Very. Creepy._

Lawson turned and strutted her genetically enhanced ass away once she'd informed us of that, evidently not having anything further to say. Taylor grimaced a little and quietly murmured a few polite words about it being good to work with us before following his evident boss.

"You two should attempt to get some sleep." Doctor Chakwas spoke into the silence that followed their departure, her lined face more tired than I'd ever seen it. "I have a new appreciation for the medical texts that were waiting in my cabin, I expect I'll be spending the next several days reading about procedures of dubious morality."

I winced a little as I stood up, grabbing my discarded bag with one hand while gently taking Liara's elbow with the other. She blinked as her mind returned from wherever it had been, shaking herself and rising before guiding me to our apparent room.

The bunks were set into a wall, one above the other, and looked about as comfortable as the floor. Still, there were at least pillows and blankets to go with the neatly laid out pieces of armor plating and the folded body-suit to go beneath them.

"Nikita... do you?" Liara made a motion towards my bag as she closed the door behind us.

 _Without Karin and Joker?_

 _Less obvious this way,_ my inner cynic pointed out, _we can always relay whatever we come up with later._

Nodding, I carefully set my backpack down and rummaged around until I found the tiny box buried beneath my clothes. It let out a soft whine as I set it on the ground and turned it on, the device hopefully deafening the many listening devices no doubt around us.

"Do you... do you think that..." Liara sucked in a breath and visibly forced herself to steady, "The game from your universe, did it cover any of this?"

"No." I replied somewhat miserably, pushing her armor aside so that I could sit on her bunk. "The first one ended with Sovereign's destruction. I know Shepard was going to be in the second one... and Lawson might have been involved, maybe... I think she might have been on a poster or something, but I don't really remember all the details anymore."

"How could you-" Her sharp retort abruptly stopped as I flinched, "Goddess, listen to me. Your memory isn't perfect and it's been years. The.. second game, you never played it?"

"It wasn't released yet." My eyes lowered to the floor, "I remember a character preview for Jack, and that Shepard had to go to Illium to chase down an assassin... but that's all I have."

 _She wants to know if its possible, if it can really happen. If it's meant to happen._

And I couldn't give her that certainty. Once again I was only barely useful, if that.

 _And the woe is me party is back... yay._

"What do you think about our new allies?" Liara asked quietly, stepping forwards and collecting the gear I'd moved aside.

"I..." I sucked in a breath and willed the cynical Detective Nikita to take over, I wasn't any good to her right now. "I don't trust them, and I don't think they're telling us everything about T'Ravt or themselves. Or about Shepard."

Blue hands stilled as my head rose, eyes blinking away the tears that had been forming. Liara gazed at me with her usual mixture of pity and uncertainty as I switched perspectives, pushing myself back further and getting settled more comfortably.

"I never like it when you do that." She murmured quietly as she finished setting her armor onto the floor.

I felt a stab of pain in my heart, both halves of me remembering lost chances. "Everyone finds a way to cope... I'll admit it isn't healthy, but it works for me and keeps me mostly sane. Can we stay on topic before I break down and bury my face in your chest?"

Liara closed her eyes and nodded. "All right. Cerberus?"

My lips pursed as I considered the issue, ignoring the quivering ball of self-loathing and misery in the back of my head. _If you're gong to bawl your eyes out, you can have the decency to wait until we've talked._

 _You... are such a bitch sometimes..._

Sighing mentally, I pushed that part of me further back and started laying out my thoughts. "I think they're at least being honest about wanting Shepard back. Before Alchera, she and I mostly agreed that T'Ravt's most probable goal was to assist against the Reapers, but to do so in a fashion that left the Asari in the best possible position post-war."

Blue lips moved as Liara bit her lower one, "And you think Cerberus hopes to do the same?"

"Having Shepard leading the fight certainly won't hurt the species' image." I shrugged. "Joker's fear aside, a control chip seems a little obvious, too easy to detect and countered. I think something more subtle... hypnotics maybe? We'd have to know where they're working on her body and be ready to intervene as soon as we think she's almost revived."

That wouldn't be easy, and from her expression she knew that as well as I did. Lawson's words about Chakwas being allowed to supervise were nice, but there wasn't any chance that Karin would be able to supervise every single little thing. Or be allowed to communicate anything beyond what Cerberus allowed even if she did notice something wrong.

"I don't think they'd allow us, you especially, to be involved." I continued as she rose and settled onto the bunk beside me. "Our best option might be to allow them to take the body, and have Joker and Karin go with to maintain a presence on the inside. We would go and find someone who could help us locate them, and keep tabs beyond what they let our friends tell us."

"Aethyta." The name came out as a single breath. "You think we can locate her?"

"I think I'm a decent enough investigator, and you're more than a little intelligent." I gave her a confident grin, that faltered a little. "And... if recent news is to be believed, we might be able to interrogate an old agent of hers on Omega. He might know something."

Liara blinked a few times, then seemed to sigh as she realized who I was talking about. She'd never really interacted with the man, not like Shepard had, but some of Kaya's disgust had evidently transferred across their bond. "Yes... I suppose we could."

I opened my mouth to assure her I wasn't exactly eager to see him, or his _companion_ either, but only a choking sound came out.

 _That's enough... back..._

 _No, absolutely not. We still have data to go over, and plans that have to be-_

A warm hand touched my cheek, and the mental argument screeched to a halt as Liara touched us. "Detective, please... give me Nikita back."

My entire body quivered as I leaned into her touch, both parts of me wanting to nuzzle my hand into that soft skin before reason reasserted itself. Liara was Shepard's... I'd missed that chance, just like I'd missed my moment with Garrus.

That stab of pain sent my inner cynic fleeing, throwing the emotion, the agony and despair... everything that she couldn't handle was left for the rest of me to deal with.

Things got... blurry after that, Liara holding me as I broke down sobbing. At some point she couldn't hold back either, the pain of her loss leaving the two of us clutching at one another as we cried. It was the only breakdown that we allowed ourselves on that particular trip. Although neither of us was exactly stable, we managed to stay focused as we spent the duration preparing for the pit of despair that was Omega.

* * *

 _ **Next up is Prologue III: Scum and Villainy**_

 _A little bit shorter, but this section didn't fit in the prior chapter or what comes next. A bit more of Nikita's use and problems coming into play_

 _On another note... I've finally gone ahead and create a P-atreon account to try and fund my original work, and possibly for some more aspects of AR to be expanded as well. Please check it out if you feel the desire, and also feel free to let me know if any aspect of it could do with being improved or adjusted._

 _Can be found at (remove the spaces) p a treon / Zach_K2V_

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Team-CNCR → After the prologue, which should be the usual four chapters total.

Envy34 → I don't know, is he? :P

Marcusss → Yeah... the site apparently removes the word, had to add an extra space.

5 Coloured Walker → That was probably overdue... so I went ahead and followed your advice lol. As for the setup, it was supposed to be implied that Nikita recognized her attackers as members of T'Ravt's entourage.

Legendary Junk Mail → The prologue for AR:7 is already planned and is also different. :)

Tusken1602 → Everyone touched by the process that created Cieran, Nikita, and Jaime came out more than a little screwed up. They have a unifying trait of deep paranoia, but each of them has an additional... 'issue' beyond that.

Septim7 → You will. ;)

WomanSlayer → Semper Vitae may or may not be touched when the next Avatar movies come out, depending on how much they inspire me to resueme.


	3. Prologue III: Scum and Villainy

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Prologue III: Scum and Villainy**

 _Date:_ 01-30-2185

 _Location:_ Lower Doru, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

 **The Huntress**

"The deal is occurring in an abandoned section of Kima district, possibly as early as this evening. The false-Broker's team is already on station, they are simply awaiting on the Collector's arrival." Lawson informed all of us as we checked our armor and weapons, two former civilians and a squad of terrorists all preparing to go liberate a dead body in the hopes that it could be revived.

 _It sounds even worse when you say it like that._

 _Yup..._ I sighed and held a hand up, "Where's Kima?"

"It is one of the three lower districts." From the speed of her response, she'd expected that question, "Located in the spire dropping away from the main zones. It's... the least reputable area of the station."

I blinked. "So... even people who live on this station think it's bad."

"Essentially so." She seemed to grimace, "No one lives there who truly has a choice, and even the basic systems are barely maintained. All of that is why it is ideal for exchanges such as this."

Liara and I both nodded slightly, though it was Liara who spoke. "What is our plan?"

"The Collectors are supposedly highly advanced, and highly dangerous. Considering that they would be shot on approach to this station, I can only assume that they have some means of approaching by stealth." Lawson shook her head once, "Our best avenue will be to have retrieved Shepard and departed before they arrive, especially given our limited numbers."

 _Highly limited, considering I'm not much good in a fight._

 _I'm fine in a fight,_ cynical Nikita replied waspishly, _It's the aftermath that I can't handle._

"To that end, we'll be leaving at once. I have already paid our docking fees and convinced the manager that we are mercenaries recently from the Traverse, hoping to find employment in the wake of the war." We at least looked the part, and I didn't doubt that there were dozens or hundreds of such little groups on station for that actual reason. "Agent Ozawa, you and the others will remain to protect the ship, and have Moreau ready to fly."

"Ma'am." The man nodded, looking grateful as he turned to limp back towards the cockpit.

Liara watched him go with pursed lips, "The five of us?"

There was a ghost of a wince across the woman's face. "Recent setbacks have put limits on our available forces, and the others are too injured from your rescue to safely operate in a place like Omega. Our local team will provide additional firepower once we link up with them."

Kai Leng stirred, looking up from where he'd been inspecting his sword. "Who?"

"The twins."

The sociopath merely nodded, but I didn't miss the wince that flickered across Taylor's face. Before I could ask just who the twins were, Lawson continued on, "Our job will be to locate and secure Commander Shepard, and then move to the nearest available hangar and call for extraction. Doctor, Detective, please remember to stay quiet and to allow me to do any talking... and for the love of god, don't be obvious about gawking."

Gawking? "We aren't exactly colonists fresh to the Citadel, Miss Lawson."

She gave me a pitying look as she pulled a black helmet over her patrician features, her voice coming out low and modulated as she repeated herself. "Don't be obvious about it."

In hindsight, the quiet scoff I offered her was a bit stupid, even if it did make Liara smile a little before we pulled our own helmets on and joined the precession off the ship.

The hangar looked old and worn, but was otherwise hardly distinguishable from any other hangar I'd seen. Exiting it brought us into a massive, open-air market of some kind. It was open for a good three stories above us, and packed with beings of nearly every species.

The gawking started almost at once... along with the flinching as gunfire went off in the background, occasionally joined by piercing screams, and twice I was pretty sure I heard an actual bomb go off somewhere out of sight.

For starters, everyone in sight that wasn't wearing a slave collar, and there were more than a few of those, was armed. In some cases very heavily armed, and with weapons that didn't look like they'd pass any kind of legal inspection anywhere in Citadel space. Hell, there was even a Krogan walking around with _grenade launchers_ strapped to his shoulders and no one even looked twice at him.

"This is..." I felt nauseous as we stepped over a pool of blood about ten yards from our hangar, the corpse of a Drell laying face-down in a gutter while a pair of Salarians quickly worked at stripping her clothing off.

"I warned you." Lawson replied flatly across our helmet communications.

It only got worse after that.

We passed stalls and shops buying and selling everything from clothes to weapons, from drugs to antiques, from works of art to food of every variety. Nearly all of the raw goods had to have been stolen or taken as prizes in piratical raids, and a few times I could see said pirates furiously haggling with owners to sell what they had taken. Whores, both with and without slave collars, lurked in every other alley, supervised by hard-faced men and women who collected money even as customers simply took their pleasure right in the open.

I fought the urge to vomit as I watched a Turian woman, her claws ripped out and jaw strapped shut, being dragged into an alley by a thick-set Batarian while another counted credit chits. Other pimps had their 'employees' painted up with lewd words scrawled across their bodies, the brutal presentation of their dead eyes a hard contrast to the dancers I saw outside of a massive Casino, the Asari anything but collared and looking very much like they were enjoying the enthralled attention lavished on their naked bodies.

 _Five city blocks. More than forty slaves, most sexual. Nine corpses. Thirteen drug dealers. Five people probably dying of an overdose. Two women being raped in that alley. One male being raped in the next. Oh look, an organ harvester cutting up a dead Asari right in public... Can I turn off?_

 _Are..._ I swallowed as Liara and I stepped a little closer to each other, _Are we being followed?_

 _Not that I can tell... please, this is... too much,_ I felt her withdraw without another word, leaving me shaking and hesitant, but also no longer categorizing and compiling the horror around me.

"Does no one care?" Liara whispered as we moved around body number ten, this one a nude human man, his everything already looted.

"Omega prizes strength and freedom, Doctor." Kai Leng replied quietly. "You are strong enough to protect yourself and yours, and strong enough to do as you wish... or you are not."

Taylor let out an quiet sound of disgust as we neared a massive bank of elevators, "The upper districts are... better, but the lower you go the worse it tends to get if you aren't in an enclave."

"Meaning?" I asked, noticing that Miranda was leading us right into a milling crowd clearing waiting to use the lifts... and they were all scattering before our little group. "Why are they all just letting us pass?"

"Social status is most easily determined by the quality of armor you're wearing." Lawson replied as she finally slowed, stopping behind a mixed-species group of what looked like Eclipse mercenaries. "Ours is sufficient to warn the general population that we aren't people to be irritated."

 _Because the better your armor, the less you have to worry about being shot at random._

 _Yeah..._ I shuddered, "What about the enclaves?"

Taylor shifted a little closer to Liara and I, a hand openly resting on the shotgun on his belt. "Most of the major gangs and warlords are free to carve out their own territory if they have the power to do so, and to run it how they want so long as they give Aria her due. Some of them are a lot like what we just walked through, others are worse, but a few... actually come close to being decent places to live."

"Unfortunately we don't have any business in Fumi district, or Afterlife's zone." Lawson sighed as she got us moving again, moving to an open lift and piling in. "Where we are going, things are liable to be worse."

Liara sucked in a small breath and shook her head, murmuring soft apologies to Shepard about what she was doing even as we began to plummet downwards.

Kima turned out to be worse, but also better. At least, once we'd gotten a few blocks away from the elevators, where a lot of the secondary lights had gone out. We could still _hear_ what was going on, but it made it easier not to see all of it.

We only had one more incident while we were en route to where we were meeting the other Cerberus team, a Turian drugged out of his mind on something burst out from the darkness to try and mug us. Liara had effortlessly batted him aside with her biotics before Taylor had executed him, and we'd been given an even wider berth by the locals after that.

After nearly two hours of walking, and taking another two lift rides further down the station, we reached a bombed out warehouse containing two women in blue colored full-body armor. One was seated beside a tiny console, while the other tracked out approach with the newest model Avenger rifle before lowering it.

"Operative Lawson." The sentry's voice came out as a synthesized feminine purr, "Welcome to Kima District."

"Eva." Lawson replied brusquely, "Edi. Status?"

"We have confirmation of the target." The hacker's voice modulator was apparently set to an identical setting, making me shake my head a little at the almost echoing quality of it. Twins indeed. "Three blocks down in a secured warehouse, but we have a complication."

Liara sucked in a tight breath, "Kaya's body is that close?"

"Affirmative." The hacker, Edi apparently, replied, "But it the deal is being managed by the false-broker's leading enforcer; a Salarian named Tazzik."

Kai Leng surprised me by making an irritated sound. "That will cause problems. Tazzik is... skilled. Support?"

"Eighteen broker operatives, five of which are Asari."

Detective Nikita cautiously stirred, _Nineteen enemies, including five biotics and one of them is good enough to give Kai Leng pause._

 _Seven of us, and Liara might be worth more than one biotic on her own, but..._

"I don't suppose either of you is a biotic?" I asked hopefully.

"I am." Lawson spoke, "As is Taylor, but our primary goal isn't to fight or eliminate the Broker team, merely to recover the Commander. Leng, can you hold Tazzik off?"

The slim man seemed to consider that, "He is fond of high-yield, area weaponry. I will need cover to approach within range to deny him such firepower. Doctor T'Soni would be ideal."

"Doctor?" She glanced at Liara, who nodded slightly. "The two of you will distract and disable Tazzik. Jacob, you'll have the twins, you'll need to provide covering fire and biotic suppressants in order to cover myself and Detective Korolev. Our role will be to secure the Commander and then withdraw. Once we're clear, everyone will retreat. Edi, do we have an extraction point?"

"Affirmative, I have already prepared a burst transmission." The hacker hesitated almost stiffly, "Based on past data and current traffic patterns, Flight Lieutenant Moreau should be able to reach our designated hangar within twenty-five minutes. I recommend sending the signal now."

 _Well, at least we aren't in a direct combat role... not that it will last... I mean, I'm not much of a strategist but..._

"Um," I cleared my throat, "Are you serious?"

Lawson had already taken a step back towards the door, clearly ready to go out and do battle right this moment, only stopping as she and everyone else turned to look at me.

"I mean... I'm not really a combat expert, but that doesn't sound like a very good plan to me." I admitted, "Three people holding off eighteen?"

"I have every confidence in Mister Taylor's ability to do so, yes."She replied flatly, "Given our numbers and the timing of the situation, we have little other option. They do not have to hold them back indefinitely, merely long enough for you and I to reach and recover the stasis pod."

"Well... Yes, but-" I shut up when Liara touched my arm, leaning her helmet closer.

"It's a bad plan." My friend murmured quietly, "Everything about this is a bad idea, and Kaya would kill us both if she was here... But... this could be our only chance. Please."

There wasn't anything I could say to that, so I just nodded and carefully pulled my pistol off my belt. Everyone else drew their own weapons as we started moving, Edi sending out the message to get Joker moving before easily catching up with us.

I focused on her and her sister if for no other reason than to distract myself from where we were going.

 _Unusual rifles... must be custom Cerberus jobs, same for the armor. And their movements are weird, stiff and... wait, are they moving perfectly in sync?_ The nearer of the two, Eva, noticed my attention, her helmet locking onto mine as she subtly shifted her jogging pattern to be different from her sister's. _Right. That's a little creepy. What do you think they are?_

 _I think I should have picked something else to distract me._ I admitted as I hurriedly looked away from the odd pair.

 _Like what? Liara's butt? It doesn't look as good in armor as it does in leggings... hm, what about Taylor's?_

 _Don't... just don't._

 _I am you, you know,_ she chided me almost gently, _You still love her, more than you ever crushed on Garrus. And Taylor is easy enough on the eyes if you just want something physical._

 _For the last time, Liara is Shepard's, and it doesn't matter how I feel about her._ I retaliated, more than aware that I was just distracting myself as we grew closer and closer to our destination... a place where I was increasingly convinced that not all of us would be leaving from. _And I don't care how tight Taylor's ass looked or how firm his muscles were when he worked out on the ship, he's still Cerberus._

 _Christ... this is why I need to step in more often, I'm never going to get laid at this rate._

Despite the dire situation, I felt my cheeks flush. _Oh shut it!_

The mental laughter faded as our little group slowed down, ducking into an alley beside another large warehouse. They seemed to be rather common in this area, probably highlighting that it had once been some kind of storage zone before the area went to hell.

Edi and Eva had apparently already disabled or corrupted the warning drones and sensors in this area, with nothing setting off any alarms as we split up. Four of us stayed down on the ground level, while Jacob followed the twins up some kind of fire escape to enter the building on a higher level.

When the quiet click came across our speakers telling us they were in position to cover us, we moved in.

The interior was filled with rusting aircars and other broken down vehicles, and only a few flickering lights provided any real illumination. Still, enough of them were working to highlight the area near the back that had been cleared out as we quietly crept inside, throwing our enemy into sharp relief.

They were all in black armor, and most seemed to be lazily sitting around or leaning against the walls, clearly not expecting any problems. It made Tazzik stand out all the more, the absoutely massive Salarian pacing in slow circles around a hovering slab of metal.

 _Shepard._

 _Yeah..._ my inner cynic allowed, _But this isn't right. Why are they so relaxed?_

"Stop." Kai Leng rasped at the same time, his body going still as he dropped even lower. "Unprofessional, not alert, and Tazzik would never be so stupid. This is a trap."

" _Correct_!" A cheerful voice boomed out from somewhere above us. " _Kai Leng, it's been too long... I haven't yet repaid you for my right arm, have I?_ "

The assassin twitched, raising his voice with extreme reluctance. "Tazzik. You have mics in the cars."

" _Obviously_ , a _long with-"_ A single, massively deep gunshot thundered from just outside, shutting him up rather nicely. " _What the..? All units, protect the-!"_

Another round cut off his orders, and Kai Leng abruptly blurred, rushing back the way we'd come. Lawson let out a surprisingly vicious curse and sprinted after him, Liara and I belatedly following them.

"Jacob! Get outside!" The woman snarled as we burst back into the alley, "They have her on the move!"

" _Moving!"_ Taylor shouted even as more gunfire began to ratchet to life.

I had the time to notice the odd differences, something I never thought I could pick up on. Instead of the rapid staccato sounds I was used to hearing, each gunshot was practically an independent thing, though the sound still managed to become overwhelming as more weapons joined in.

 _Semi-automatic weapons, large bore... quite a few of them now._

We emerged from the alley at a sprint, and I all but slammed into Lawson's back as she skidded to a stop and started to backpedal. The reason for her abrupt cessation became obvious as I got a look around her, seeing Tazzik, probably the real Tazzik, engaged in a close quarters brawl with a short Asari in a dark coat.

The titanic Salarian was cursing, dodging the short sword in one of her hands, the lashes of warp energy she was throwing from her other, as well as trying to mitigate the damage coming in from the other attackers. In that, I supposed, the Asari's tiny body was working in her advantage, making it easy for her allies to avoid hitting her by just keeping their fire high. Behind that chaotic brawl, I could see several dozen people flinging themselves into cover and firing wildly at others who were emerging from other buildings and alleyways.

"There!" Liara snapped, her gaze locking onto the real stasis pod and the two Krogan hustling to try and move it clear of the combat zone.

"T'Soni, Korolev," Lawson barked, already moving in that direction, "With me. Leng?"

The assassin was already blurring into motion, streaking right for Tazzik's back. He somehow managed to evade that blow, throwing himself back and leaving a pair of grenades to drive both of his attackers aside for a bare moment, and then the three of them were moving, shooting, grenade throwing, and slashing at a rate I could barely keep up with.

 _Take over!_

 _On it!_ Detective Nikita surged into the driver's seat, my movements growing steadier as my weapon snapped up to track targets.

The unseen sniper blew apart a Batarian before I could pull the trigger, his massive round smashing through the man's helmet to bury itself in the back of the Asari behind him. She went down with a scream, but was still alive until Lawson and I put several shots into her now-prone form.

On our left, Liara vaulted an entire ground car with a pulse of biotic power, slamming a hand forwards while she was airborne to slam three Broker agents with a wide-area push as she did. One's shielding was sufficient to keep him in place, but the other two were hurled away with surprised yelps before being gunned down by the opportunistic attackers.

 _Oh god, this is a mess... Who are they?  
_

 _Not now!_ I snapped back, flinging myself downwards to avoid a carnage round flung out by one of the Krogan shepherding Shepard's body. My pistol fired as quickly as I could pull the trigger, the rotating heat sink smoothly locking a new thermal clip into place as the old one overheated. _Thank you Tali._

The Krogan snarled at the unexpectedly intense barrage, flinching as the phasic rounds chipped and rang off of his armor as I tried to get one through to his eyes or throat. In the end, the sniper ended up killing him, waiting until my shots had drained his shields before neatly coring the massive alien's helmet and leaving it to collapse in a heap.

His partner let out a furious snarl, only to be met by Liara's cold fury as she approached her lover's coffin.

Shotgun rounds were stopped cold by swirling barriers before the weapon was simply ripped out of his hands. Disdaining the use of her rifle, she simply hurled a singularity into place directly behind him before throwing both hands out in shearing motions. Two separate balls of warpfire rocketed out to burn their way throw the Krogan's arms before striking the swirling dark energy and detonating it.

She made sure to step on what was left of the larger alien as she continued walking, more than a little bit of the gunfire sputtering to a halt as everyone got a good look at what she'd just done.

Shouts for a retreat started up as more of the dark-clad attackers arrived, lead by a massive Krogan wielding a squad-level machine gun like a rifle as he mercilessly cut down several of the Broker's people.

Leaving them to it, I rushed forwards with Lawson to help Liara secure Shepard, the Cerberus woman quickly skidding to a stop next to the console readout. "It's her, stasis fields are active... right, we need to get this moving before-"

A massive detonation threw the entire street into fiery relief, the sound clapping over us. I had to grab onto the pod to stay upright, Miranda doing the same while Liara anchored herself into place with her biotics.

 _What the... the warehouse..._

"Holy shit." I gasped as I turned around, staring at the roaring inferno that had taken the place of the warehouse we'd originally gone into. There was a brief, tall blur of misshapen motion near the flames, Tazzik having evidently triggered the bombs to cover his own escape.

 _And leaving his people behind,_ I noted mentally as the fighting quickly resumed, even more one sided as one side realized that their boss had cut and run on them.

"We need to get her moving." Lawson hissed as Liara and I made to step away, to go help our benefactors finish things up. "Now."

I blinked, "Why? Whoever they are-"

"I know who they are." She interrupted me impatiently, "And we don't want to be here any longer than we have to. Let's-"

"I'm afraid you'll have to deal with us for a while longer, Operative Lawson." A deep voice rumbled politely, all three of us twisting around to see the Krogan with the machine gun calmly approaching us.

 _Heavy armor, of course, color is black... no, very, very dark blue, silver accents. Weapon looks custom with some kind of boxy, secondary barrel on the side... weird. Markings.._ He turned slightly, letting me see the logo on his right shoulder. _Asari sword dripping with their blood. Silver Blades... huh, didn't know they hired Krogan._

 _Very large... very old Krogan._

 _Strangely observant of you._

"I'm afraid our mission is time critical." Lawson spoke, clearly not wanting anything to do with our allies. "And we need to-"

"Get the good Commander's body to your ship, yes." The Krogan's helmet dipped as he nodded. "It was redirected to our enclave after it attempted to depart your hangar."

I sucked in a tight breath, "It... you redirected it?"

That huge head shifted in my direction, his voice becoming amused and almost calming, "Your crew is quite safe, and unharmed. The Executive Commander merely wished to ensure you could not flee without first speaking with him."

"And who," Liara asked quietly, her body firmly planted between him and Shepard. "is that Commander? And who are you?"

He actually held a hand to his chest in embarrassment. "My sincere apologies, little one. I am Raik Chek, newly of the Silver Blade Lancers."

Lawson's fingers actually twitched, as if she was fighting down the urge to draw her holstered weapon or summon her biotics. "Kean is demanding I talk with him then."

"I believe he is more interested in the fallen Spectre's companions rather than yourself," Check corrected politely, "But I do believe that it would be best to get moving. Tazzik is not the type to give up, even despite his wounds."

"No fucking shit." A coarse Asari voice heralded more people moving up to join us, the short Asari moving beside Kai Leng, while more of the rank and file Blades escorted Taylor along with the twins... and, weirdly, a limping Turian in light blue armor, though their attention was far more on...

 _Huh. It's not just you, they really all are pointing their guns at Leng's back._

"We took his cyborg arm, but that giant fuck will be back." Even though the air was tense, I fought not to giggle at the Asari's voice. It was surprisingly girly despite her crisp accent, which made the constant cursing sound more amusing than threatening. "So let's all stop fucking standing around in the goddess damned open. You, T'Soni, Athame's ass but you need to relax, we're not taking her from you, just have to talk some shit out."

 _Five foot, tops. Bit stocky for her size, kind of like a much smaller me... armor is light but high quality, coat is definitely armored somehow. Armed with a short sword and a pistol... that an Acolyte?_

 _Think so,_ I agreed with my cynic as I glanced up and down her _. Heavily modified though._

Liara didn't so much as take a step while I did my usual analyzation thing, remaining firmly in place between the mercenaries and Shepard. "How do I know that, and who are you?"

"Trena T'Laria." Kai Leng supplied, his voice somehow amused. "Fathered daughter of Jona Sederis, former acolyte of your own parent, Aethyta T'Voth. Now apparently the leader of the Silver Blades Lancers... Kean has retired?"

"That lazy ass finally got cornered into actually leading shit." The Asari, T'Laria, rolled a shoulder, "Why he's upstairs training assholes and probably stressing the fuck out over this op. As for your other question T'Soni, you know that because Aria fucking knew you were coming before you even got here. She's letting us deal with this, and be fucking thankful for that."

The massive Krogan seemed to heave out a sigh, speaking up before Liara could reply, "My apologies for my commanding officer, she is rather uncouth for an Asari. Executive Commander Kean wishes to extend his word that you will be allowed to depart unharmed, with the fallen Spectre."

I swallowed, bit my lip, and risked another glance around. There were a _lot_ of mercenaries present now, all of them more or less surrounding us. Chek was being polite, but it was pretty clear that we didn't really have a choice. "Liara... I think we'll be all right."

She flicked her helmet at me, then seemed to shake herself as if only now realizing that there was forty plus soldiers around us, with nearly all of them pointing their weapons in our direction. Well, in Kai Leng's direction, but since he was nearby it amounted to the same thing.

"All right..." Liara nodded slightly, "Let's... get moving then."

* * *

 _ **Next up is Prologue IV: Old Friends**_

 _And they've retrieved Shepard's body, with a bit of help from someone Miranda would much rather have not seen again. And someone else is being brought along rather against his will, though Nikita and Liara were a little too distracted to ask the appropriate questions... yet._

 _Next chapter should be out soon, but after this one I'm probably going to switch to a regular update schedule for the first time in order to help accommodate my new workload with my P-a-treon. Right now I'm leaning towards a once per week update for this story, likely dropping on Mondays, though with potential for more depending on how far ahead I get elsewhere._

 _In other news, I do have a potential artist lined up, so at some point AR images might start going up on my Deviant account. I'll be sure to let you all know if/when that happens._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

GreaterGoodIreland → I'm a little iffy on the fanfiction part of it, though I know there's more than a few people who use it to make a profit that way. That's why I'm focusing on my original stuff there, with no direct rewards or monetary requirements for this.

Marcusss → He's still an insomniac, though it isn't nearly as bad as it once was. He generally only sleeps 'well' on battlefields, or with someone next to him.


	4. Prologue IV: Old Friends

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Prologue IV: Old Friends**

 _Date:_ 01-21-2185

 _Location:_ Silver Blades Enclave, Doru District, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

 **The Huntress**

When I'd heard the word 'enclave', I'd naturally thought of something like a military base... or maybe like one of the larger courtyard like markets that we'd seen earlier, just surrounded by walls and armed guards and such things.

The Silver Blades had... a lot more than that.

 _Hell, they have something like a small city all to themselves..._

 _Yeah._ I swallowed as we stepped out of the flying cargo truck that had carried us up through a crazed transit network, depositing us in what was supposedly the upper-most levels of Doru. This particular area was apparently the very top of the metal spire that descended down from Omega, which meant we had actual, towering buildings stretching upwards into the open space above.

"Woah..." I breathed as I looked up into Omega's core. Far in the distance was the other side of the cavern, and it looked as if it was covered in stepped buildings rising from the ground all the way out of sight. To the left was something like an arcology, half buried in the rock of the asteroid while still towering over everything... and it looked like it was supporting yet another massive platform impossibly high above us.

If it hadn't been for what I'd seen when we docked, and then again in Kima, I would have called it a stunning vista. The lights, the flying vehicles, the sheer scope of the asteroid around us... it was incredibly impressive in its own way. But... as pretty as it all was, it didn't fully hide the disgusting things I'd already witnessed.

 _Glamor thrown over rot._

"Welcome to our enclave." Raik Chek laughed at my expression, all of us having removed our helmets after they'd assured us we would be safe here. He'd proven to have a deep black crest, and surprisingly gentle eyes for a Krogan. "Even to one as jaded and old as I, the view is quite something."

"It's almost pretty." I murmured, blinking as I realized that there were _starships_ floating in the cavern above us. "Are those... warships?"

"Aria's Black Fleet." He nodded. "Or parts of it, anyway. Our Queen reigns from Afterlife, you can see its light atop Tuhi district. That is the towering column to our left."

I craned my neck back again, and thought I saw an array of flashing lights somewhere far above, but it was rather hard to tell. "How much territory do you own?"

"Fucking lot and not much all at the same damned time." T'Laria spoke up, one of her armored feet tapping impatiently as Lawson and Liara carefully pushed the stasis pod out of the cargo hauler. "This entire zone, two levels below, and then the docking complex next to it. Still recruiting, so Eclipse has to handle a lot of the cleanup shit for now."

I glanced at her. Without her helmet she was a little prettier than I'd thought from just her voice and body, her face neatly symmetrical and devoid of tattoos... but her eyes... God but her eyes were like little gemstones, gleaming wickedly along the perpetual smirk on her blue lips.

 _Stop staring at the eye candy before she notices!_

 _Right!_ "Um... cleanup?" I stuttered, feeling my face flush a little as those eyes flicked up to mine.

"The ape doesn't tolerate a lot of the shit you probably saw down below." She rolled a shoulder in a shrug, "We put up a few warnings and gave the smart ones a local day to get the fuck out. More than a few didn't take us seriously, fucking morons."

I blinked, "Meaning... you're-"

Kai Leng exhaled as he just _appeared_ next to me, my body practically spasming as I stutter-stepped away from him. "They are hunting down and killing those slavers who were not intelligent to heed their warnings, Detective."

T'Laria glared at the man, then at Chek. "Why the fuck is your gun not shoved up his ass?"

"Killing him before the fight truly begin would be horribly boring." The Krogan replied without a hint of shame. "And Vessian is pointing his weapon at him regardless."

I blinked then glanced around until I saw a Turian man with almost black skin and bronzed plating holding his rifle. His mandibles twitched once as everyone else turned to look at him as well, his voice not quite as pleasant as Garrus's... though it wasn't bad either. "At least I know how to follow orders."

Chek let out a disgusted sound, "Typical Turian."

"Both of you shut the fuck up, unless you _want_ me to fucking get involved again." The sole Asari present spat, glaring up at both of them. Despite the fact that they towered over her, both alien men actually shifted a little uncomfortably, and the Turian actually took a step away. "Didn't fucking think so. The pod's finally moving, move your asses after it."

I fought not to giggle as the two of them, Vessian still holding his gun on Kai Leng, got moving as their apparent boss stared them down. T'Laria grunted in approval, and gave me something like a smirk before turning to start catching up to everyone else.

 _I like her, so small, but so much personality. And those eyes..._

Still smiling, I quickly jogged to catch up with everyone else, threading through the mixed group of guards before I was up next to where Liara was firmly keeping a hand on Shepard's stasis pod as we walked.

My friend gave me a surprised look as she caught sight of my expression, then simply shook her head and sighed. "The stasis pod is secure and powered, she's... preserved."

The happiness drained out of me at once, my teeth biting at my lower lip as I glanced at the pod. "That's good... is it... is she..."

"Recovery _may_ be possible." Lawson spoke up from where she was walking on the other side, "Basic scans show the critical sections are intact, but until we're able to extract her... I can't say for certain."

 _That's... something._

 _Yeah,_ Detective Nikita replied quietly, _Some hope._

Everything settled down as we walked through battered streets largely devoid of people. Mercenaries of various species, either in Silver Blades blue-black or Eclipse golden-yellow, were the most predominate, and largely seemed to be supervising repairs and reconstruction. Personally I didn't think the damage looked all that severe, assuming that the war had come through here, but Kean evidently wanted his new territory to look better than the rest of the station.

 _Can't blame him for that._

 _Nope,_ I agreed with a shudder, _And speak of the devil..._

Our mobile party began to break apart as we reached our apparent destination, a broad and open space about the same size as a footfall field. From the way it was recessed into the ground, with plenty of space around it, it had probably once been used for some kind of entertainment... probably the kind that would give me nightmares to know about.

Now it was apparently being used as a massive sparring and training ring, filled with obstacles and debris to simulate some kind of battlefield. A session had apparently just wrapped up, since there was a good forty or so Blades milling around inside of it, talking and laughing with one another as they set weapons aside and grabbed canteens.

Kean himself was standing on our level, overlooking the main field, looking as if he was half-listening to the purple-skinned Asari beside him, half-watching our approach.

 _Same getup as T'Laria. Light armor, armored coat, that trick cane he had last time we met. Still pale, added a few scars around his left eye, like something tried to claw it out. Still long haired... huh, added braids there as well as in his beard. Make him look..._

 _...kind of like a viking,_ I shook my head a little, _A space-viking with alien posture. Still all stiff._

 _Not quite as much,_ cynical Nikita noted, _his shoulders are a lot more relaxed and he's not holding them up. Might even be slouching a little... that little head motion he just did, that's Asari for 'move-it-along' right?_

 _Part-Asari, Part-Batarian, Part-Human, all annoying and hard to read._

Apparently I wasn't the only one dreading seeing him, with Lawson visibly dragging her feet before cursing softly and ordering Taylor, Leng, and the twins to stay with the pod while the three of us went over to talk with him.

Liara looked like she was ready to argue with that plan, but cut herself off with a gasp and abruptly changed directions towards Kean, all but lunging out ahead of us.

"Lyre!?"

The Asari next to Kean pulled a deeply unhappy face as Liara all but gaped at her. "Hey Little Wing. Been a while."

My head jerked back at the nickname, and then again when Liara _didn't_ immediately tear her head off for saying it. "A while!? I... what happened to you? The last time I saw you I was twenty, and mother said you'd become a traitor!"

 _Is it just me... or does she kind of look like an older, purple-skinned Liara?_

 _I.. I don't know. Kind of? The tattoos really break her features apart, and her lower face is entirely different._

 _Her eyes though, and the nose..._

There was a snort from Lyre before I could ask, "I thought I taught you better than to believe the official story. No, your mother framed me when I told her and your father to go drown themselves when they told me I was going to quit my career to train and bodyguard you full time."

"They what? She said... wait, my father was still around when I was..." Liara was clearly having a hard time processing everything being thrown at her, her mouth moving without sounds. "Why didn't they..."

I flicked my attention to Kean, who was in the middle of sighing and shaking his head. When he spoke, his voice was the same as I remembered it, his Illium accent turning the elegant Asari language into something crisp and almost cold. "Joa, you two will have to talk, but it'll have to wait until after the main discussion."

Lyre...Joa? Nodded as Lawson caught up with us, her expression even more severe than usual. "Kean. What is this about?"

"Calm your tits Frankenstein." The mercenary shot back, ignoring the way the operative bristled at the odd nickname, "This isn't about you. Actually, pretty much none of this crap is, so you can go ahead and supervise getting that pod onto your ship."

Lawson glared at him, "So we are free to leave?"

"Of course not." His long hair shifted as he shook his head, "After I'm done speaking with T'Soni and her companions, she'll have a choice to make about where she's going. And in either case, she'll need some time alone with Shepard."

It was Liara's turn to have her head jerk a little at the unexpected kindness, or maybe just at its blunt method of delivery. He hadn't even changed his annoyed tones.

While Liara and I gaped at him, and Lawson did some more haughty bristling, Kean turned and raised his voice. "Vishin! Get your marines in order and escort our Cerberus friends back to their ship. Feel free to shoot them if they start crap, but remember that T'Soni will rip you to pieces if you so much as touch that stasis pod!"

A nearby Batarian male had glanced up at the shout, and gave his apparent commander a quick bow before lumbering over to the main group. He slowed as he approached us, all four of his black eyes pointedly locked onto Lawson's single set. She scowled, glared at Kean a final time, then spun on a perfect heel and strutted her equally perfect ass away.

 _How can she walk like that in armor? And still look that good!? Life is fucking unfair..._

 _Focus! Why does he want to talk with us? Why is he helping us at all?_

 _Only one real possibility I think..._

"Aethyta paid you to help us, didn't she?" I asked into the moment of quiet that followed, watching as T'Laria's little team approached along with the odd-man-out Turian. "That's why you sent them to help."

Kean grimaced. "She threatened me into it, actually. I'd have rather not gotten involved to be honest... I'm not really on speaking terms with Cerberus, not after Benihi."

 _That colony Miranda told us about?_

Liara frowned at him, "You raided a Citadel colony?"

"He did." The blue-armored Turian spoke up, his voice utterly scathing even through the synthesizer that made him sound more like a mech than a native of Palaven. "He also helped those terrorists kill every man, woman, and child inside of a clan's mansion while he was at it."

A lip peeled away from teeth as Kean glared at him, "One, there weren't any fucking children there. Two, they were all Levi-indoctrinated. Three, I still want to know how the _fuck_ you know about that. Four, you're still a fucking hypocritical ass Vakarian, and I'm really getting sick of it."

I opened my mouth, but something in my brain had evidently cut out, because only a gasp of air emerged. Everyone except for Liara, who looked like she was currently equally checked-out, turned to stare at me as I made a few more whimpering, choking, and gasping noises.

"I'm..." Air filled my lungs about a minute later, once I remembered how my diaphragm was supposed to work. "I'm sorry. Did you... just call him... Vakarian?"

Kean lifted a pale-brown eyebrow, "You didn't know he was moonlighting as a vigilante?"

I stared at him blankly, then carefully turned around to stare at the Turian in blue armor. "Please take off your helmet."

Said helmet stared blankly back at me for several long seconds, then he shook his head. "I don't know who-"

"Take. It. Off." I enunciated each word carefully, making sure his translator had every chance to pass the message along. "Or I, will ask, Mister Raik, to remove it... painfully."

The massive Krogan chuckled deeply, murmuring something about human women that I didn't catch, mostly because my attention was entirely on the armored hands as they very slowly rose. Air hissed as he broke the seal, the face plate shifting as he carefully worked it around his fringe before pulling the helmet away entirely.

"Nikita... Liara." Garrus spoke our names almost cautiously, both of his mandibles held tightly against his jaw. "It's good to-"

His head jerked to one side, and my palm was abruptly suffering from stinging pains.

 _...that was all you. He deserved it though._

 _You want a turn?_

My lip peeled back as he turned to gape at me, his chin completing the motion just before my other fist slammed into his stupid mouth, making him recoil in surprise. I slapped him again before he could get his hands up, then kicked the leg he'd been limping on.

"Liara!" Clawed hands managed to deflect another punch even as he gasped in pain, awkwardly hobbling back. "Help!?"

Liara stared at him, then nodded and flicked a hand out. The bolt of biotic energy flicked over my shoulder to slam into Garrus, embracing him and dragging his helpless body towards me. I grinned viciously, and wound up a haymaker that collided with his right mandible.

"Years!" I all but screamed as he staggered. "Fucking years you've been gone! No calls! No messages! Nothing!"

"I-" Another slap cut off whatever stupid excuse he was about to give, but also made me yelp as I cut my hand on one of his plates. A quick glance down showed me plenty of tanned skin that had broken in more than one place, with a decent amount of red coming out to drip onto the floor.

 _We need something better than hands._

 _Agreed... I know just the thing._

"Kean!" I twisted around, stalking towards the startled man. "Cane! Give!"

His pale green eyes were wide, but he wordlessly flicked a few buttons on the odd handle before passing it to me. It was surprisingly heavy... so much the better.

Garrus's dark eyes widened as I turned around with the weapon in my hands, hefting it up onto a shoulder like a baseball bat. "Nikita, I know I-"

"You left me in a restaurant." I growled at him, "Crying my eyes out to the point where the staff told me to _leave_ because I was making a _scene!"_

He flinched, then yelped when I slammed the weapon into his chest and drove him sideways. His long body stumbled on his bad leg, then went down as he groaned in pain. I continued ranting, not about to have any mercy on the son of a bitch. "You made _Shepard_ think that she failed, that she didn't reach your stubborn fucking bird brain!"

I hit him again in his arm as he tried to ward away the blow, sending him down and onto his back as I planted a foot right on his stomach. "We thought you were dead! That you went after Saren on your own! He taunted us with that! Said he'd killed you! We _mourned_ you!"

That drew real blood, his entire body quivering with emotion as he accepted me slamming the cane into his armored chest again. "But no! You're on _Omega!_ As a... what the hell were you doing!?"

"Vigilante." Chek rumbled up helpfully, apparently being the only person present not stunned into immobility by what they were witnessing. "He's killed just about everyone in his path for the last couple of years."

My mouth moved, "A... _that_ 's what you've been doing!? _Murdering_ people!? Did _nothing_ Kaya told you sink in!?"

Garrus, smartly, didn't reply, but the way he refused to look at me told me the truth.

Snarling, I hit him again, And then again. And then kept hitting him even as I spat more vitriol. "Kaya would be _ashamed_ of you! I'm ashamed of you! I... I... shit!"

My arms burned as I staggered off of him, kicking the stupid waist that I'd used to love perving on in the Normandy's cargo bay when he'd worked out. He said nothing as I walked away, wordlessly handing Kean his weapon back before I moved to stand next to Liara, refusing to so much to look at the heap still on the ground behind me.

"Right..." The mercenary spoke slowly, carefully settling his cane in front of him as he eyed me warily. "That was... unexpected. Let's... stay on mission. T'Soni?"

Liara shook herself a little, then also turned her back on Garrus to give Kean her full attention as one of her hands found mine, our fingers sliding together. "Yes... Yes Commander. I was hoping to ask you about my father's location while we were here. If she was responsible for sending you to assist us, surely you must know something that could help us find her, or put us in touch."

He grunted, flicking his eyes to Garrus and then back before rolling a shoulder in an Asari-shrug, "Technically, my orders are to take you both to the Blades compound on Xentha and keep you there until Shepard is revived."

 _Aethyta knew about Cerberus's plan? Guess she really is the Shadow Broker now._

"I do not care for that idea," Liara replied flatly. "Do you intend to force the issue?"

There was a snort from the human. "Athame's ass no, but I'll need you two to play along to make this work. I'm sure she's already got contacts in my organization, which means we're going to have to be clever about this."

I narrowed my eyes a little, "You're helping us?"

"A few months ago, I told Aethyta that I would work with her... and that I would never take orders from her again." His lips twitched into a grim smile, "She should have remembered that."

"All right," I allowed as Liara squeezed my hand, "What is your plan?"

He laid it out quickly and tersely, and surprisingly clearly despite that. Liara and I frowned a little as we listened, then more deeply when he indicated it would be a week or more before he could smuggle us off station, but his reasons for the delay were... well, reasonable. All in all it seemed like something that could work, something that would get us to Illium and into contact with Aethyta before she could try anything to stop us from finding her.

There was just one little issue.

"Why does he have to come with us?" I asked coldly, refusing to use his name just as I continued to refuse to look at him.

"Aria's out of patience with him." Kean replied, "He either leaves with you, or he leaves via an airlock."

"Not much of a loss." I sniffed.

 _Wow. And you call me cold... of course, you're just telling the truth._

Liara let out a short breath, her grip tightening around my fingers, "As angry as I am with Mister Vakarian... Kaya would be happy to see him alive. At least, once she had also vented her issues physically. He will come with us."

I gave her a look that was half-betrayed, half-angry, but she merely shook her head. "...fine. But I want nothing to do with him."

"Nikita-"

"Mister Vakarian." Liara's voice became as cold and remorseless as her mother's as she cut him off. "If you have any sense of self-preservation remaining, you will be _silent_."

Something like a jaw snapping shut was the only further sound that came from him, coming at the same time as Kean shifted his body into what I thought was the Batarian pose for bemusement... or maybe content at a rival's humiliation. His smile was small but vicious, and he certainly didn't seem to mind Vakarian's continuing pain since he hadn't had anyone find a medic.

 _Definitely a story there._

"All right." He spoke into the awkward silence that followed, "We've got rooms set up for the three of you on our flagship. T'Soni, I'm assuming you'll want to see Shepard before we kick those Cerberus assholes off station? Right, Scales, go ahead and show Korolev and the idiot to the ship. Joa, you mind going with your... with T'Soni?"

 _Knew it._

"I still have questions for you, about my parent." Liara replied firmly. "As much as I would like to catch up with Lyre-"

A hand rose to forestall her politely, "You'll be around for a few days, we'll have time. You want a whole lot of bitching about the old fish, you're definitely in the right place."

"Fucking right." T'Laria added, "Probably more than you'll want to hear. I'll drag you both to the officer's lounge on the ship, some drinks will go good with the stories."

Liara blinked a few times, then nodded. "All right... where is the Cerberus ship?"

Her probable half-sister waved an arm, and everyone broke apart once again. I followed T'Laria and her people, with Vakarian limping after us, while Liara went to say goodbye to her love once again.

 _So... we found Shepard's body, found an asshole we thought was dead, and apparently have a lead on someone who might help us find Shepard once a terrorist organization turns her into zombie-Shepard._

 _Yup._ I nodded to myself, _Apart from the limping jerk behind us, a pretty successful mission for once. And I haven't even see that annoying Quarian around... oh._

Two glowing eyes stared out of a doorway ahead as we approached, not quite boring into mine as we approached.

 _You just had to say it... how many days are we here again?_

 _Too many..._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Act I: Consolidation**_

 _And we've finished our fun little prologue, and we'll be returning to Cieran's point of view in the next chapter. Liara, Nikita, and Garrus will remain for the first chapter or two before their own quest takes them elsewhere._

 _Here's my posting plan that should start up next week. I may increase my overall writing schedule if my P-a-treon funds allow, possibly to permanent twice a week updates of AR in addition to my original stuff. One of said original works is almost certainly going to be an adaptation of AR into my sci-fi verse which has me rather excited... hopefully it will work out well enough to read. :)_

 _ **The plan:**_

 _ **Monday** – Another Realm_

 _ **Tuesday** – Those Who Fight_

 _ **Friday** – Another Realm (if my time allows me to work ahead on it)_

 _ **Saturday** – P-a-treon Arctic Storm chapters (bi-weekly right now)_

 _ **Sunday** – P-a-treon Amethyst Blade chapters (once per month right now)_

 _The first month of posts of my original stuff will be sent out generally so that everyone can read them, and then will move to supporter exclusives after that (Even a tiny monthly donation will give you access, I'm not expecting to suddenly replace my job with this)._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

FenrisulfrWotanbane – Glitch is, currently, 'dead', though I understand the term to malleable when it comes to AI. As for Cie in power armor again, that is certainly a possibility should he return to front-line combat.

Griezz → ...that thought didn't occur to me until you said it lol.

Septim7 → That was entirely a screw-up on the dates on my end, I've corrected them. The End of the War party came in on 1-16-85, with Aethyta calling Cie the very next day. I've pushed the Chevalier dates a little bit further back, with this story starting about a week after that call.

Lavacaverns - In the sense of not being on the frontline anymore. He's finally acting in the similar role as his 'peers' in Nynsi and Ayle, the first chapter of Act 1 is going to go into his branch's reorganization now that it isn't just him and his companions.

Legendary Junk Mail - No direct sighting of collectors just yet, but they will be a very dangerous threat when they do arrive.

Marcusss - More just time marching on, it is already ME2's timeframe despite ME1 having just ended thanks to the delay. Consdier the two of them in prototype versions of the body they used in ME3.

Aelund - Sort of... she has two personalities, but neither really considers themselves to be a seperate individual. They both know that _they_ are Nikita Korolev, both are just acting as different aspects of the same 'soul'. In many ways Cieran is the least damaged of the surviving experiments, as he was little more than a proof-of-concept and thus less 'adjusted' much less than the others.


	5. Act 1-1: Reformation

I don't own the Mass Effect.

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 **Act I: Consolidation**

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 **Chapter 1: Reformation**

 _Date:_ 01-23-2185

 _Location:_ Cruiser _Reliant_ , docked with Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

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"Council of war in relation to our guests is now in session." I announced to the mostly empty conference room as my fork stabbed a piece of chicken teriyaki, "Well, it will be once we're done eating."

Joa snorted from my left as she set her drink down, her lips curling into a grin. "Cie, since when do you and I count as a 'council of war'?"

"We currently have fifty percent of my senior leadership present." I reminded her, "That's a quorum as far as I'm concerned."

Her eyes rolled as her fork stabbed a piece of raw fish from her own plate, "Whatever you say _Commander_. Still annoyed at you by the way."

I eyed her as I picked up my glass of water, "Joa... I get enough of that from Illyan, please don't add to it."

She sighed, giving me a pitying look. "Cieran, you've got to stop taking sex so seriously if you're going to be in a relationship with Illyan. Athame's ass, _how_ do you still cling to that crap as it is? Almost all of your friends are Terminus Asari or Batarians... I'd get it if everyone around us were Turians or other Humans, or maybe naive Thessians like my sister. "

"You're seriously asking me about being stubborn about something?" Her mouth opened, then closed as she snorted and nodded. I shook my head and tried to get us back on track. "Speaking of your sister, how are our guests?"

"Pretty sure the serial killer Turian is the most stable of them." Joa replied, "Should give you a good idea how screwed up they are."

I grimaced at little. I'd started to get that impression as well, but I'd really been hoping that she'd gotten a different one during her various talks with Liara. "That bad?"

"Let's see..." She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling, "Vakarian was dating Korolev, then dumped her to come here and kill people for a living, so that relationship might be close to unrepairable. Korolev is madly in love with Liara, apparently has been for a while, and is shit at hiding it. _Liara_ is in love with Shepard, and even bloody bonded with her, but she still kind of likes Korolev and that's making shit weird between them."

Letting my fork clatter to my plate, I sub-vocalized a curse and rubbed at my forehead. "Chances all of that is going to screw things up?"

"Very high." Joa grimaced in turn. "Like I said, the Little Wing bonded to her Spectre, who went and died on her. She's going through the shock of that connection breaking on top of the usual depression and mourning. I did a gentle meld with her last night to try and help patch some things together, but she's still a mess. The two of them are probably going to end up in bed together inside of a month, and that's just going to cause even _more_ problems."

I kept rubbing at my forehead as I sighed. I, somewhat naively, hadn't really considered the cultural differences between Asari as well as I probably should have. Liara, her basic personality aside, was very much not like my friends from Illium or Xentha, or especially Omega.

To her, being a pureblood was actually something to be ashamed about, and the idea of sleeping with anything with a pulse just for fun was something left to her societal 'lessers'. Not that Liara actually acted as stuck up as that made her sound, but that's the kind of shit that Aethyta said Benezia had drilled into her before Liara had run off to become an archeologist instead of becoming the prim and proper heir to the T'Soni family.

"First, bond shock?" I asked as I sighed, "Aethyta's primer on Republics versus Illium Asari didn't cover that, and I never thought to ask what that feels like."

Joa made a face. "It's... not something that translates well to other species. It's shit is what it is."

One of my eyebrows went up, and I made a move-it-along motion. Joa rolled her eyes but nodded and took a few moments to work out her thoughts before continuing.

"It's half-mental, half-physical. Her body was just getting used to the idea of being bonded, of having that echo of her lover in her head. But now... pretty suddenly really, Shepard isn't there for her to meld with anymore, and she isn't able to reinforce the connection that they'd started to build up." Her mouth worked a little, "She's going to wake up reaching for someone who isn't there, and be literally able to feel her mental... let's call it _impression_ of Shepard start to disintegrate."

I grimaced, "So worse than other species' depression and mourning? Mood swings? That kind of thing?"

"Given her age, yeah." She blew out a breath, "She'll have bouts of anger, extreme depression, she'll probably cling to anything that used to be Shepard's in a desperate attempt to repair the impression."

Possibly including sleeping with one of their mutual friends... shit. I rubbed at my skull. "It's really that bad?"

Her expression twisted into a scowl, "Athame's ass yes. It was a fight not to hit the girl over the head, she shouldn't have even thought about bonding for another fifty or sixty years, especially with how much of a sheltered life she had before she met Shepard. Most Asari have experienced real loss and pain before they lose their first bondmate, and that... I guess you can say it hardens us, makes it easier to rationalize and cope."

I pursed my lips. "So she's like a human teenager. Physically capable of the act, but not mentally prepared for it?"

There was a snort. "Something like that, but in this case it's not the _act_ of bonding that's dangerous, it's the sudden _end_ to it. In a way she's fucking lucky, if it had happened in another five or six years, when she'd have the full connection... shit, it's not a pretty thing. There's a reason _all_ Asari cultures discourage bonding until you've finished your second century."

Both hands reached up to rub furiously across my face, "Shit... so she's not exactly stable, and she's right next to two other people who aren't either."

Joa grimaced, "You've seen Korolev making those faces at herself too?"

"Yeah." And Athame alone knew what the fuck _that_ was about... "And I've seen her just zone out and twitch, and then nod as if she's listening to someone who isn't there. Fuck but T'Ravt must have done a number on her."

"Probably." She agreed, "Shit's only going to get worse in the future, especially if Liara breaks down and takes her to bed."

I all but flinched at the idea of Shepard waking up and finding out that her wife, more or less, was now with one of her friends instead. Goddess but that wasn't going to be pretty... if Korolev knew that Shepard was coming back, I couldn't see it happening, but therein lay a huge issue. "And you're sure that Korolev doesn't know that Lazarus is going to work?"

Her head dipped in a nod, "Positive... but here's the weird thing, she told Liara about what she knew. And Shepard I think. All of it just up through the battle at the Citadel, but she was smart enough to forewarn them."

I blinked in surprise. "You saw that in the meld?"

"Yeah. Liara didn't mind, she wanted to warn me that it was possible." Her lips twitched a little, "And that they're worried that Voya might be working for someone unknown. They've eliminated T'Ravt from the shit she apparently said to Korolev the last time they were around, but their new candidate is that she's one of my mother's agents."

A snort was out before I could stop it. "They're still on about that?"

"She left an impression." Joa gave me a wan smile, "At least they don't suspect that she or you knows more than they do, small mercies."

"The small mercy was that she and Shyeel left this morning with your sister's body double." I countered.

It was her turn to snort, "That too."

Shaking my head a little, I stabbed at the last few pieces of cold food on my plate and forced them down before speaking up again, "Right, so, how the fuck do we fix them? Can we?"

"Short of breaking them apart? I don't think so." Her shoulder rolled, "I vote we delegate it to my mother. She'll probably fuck it up but at least it won't be our fault."

I couldn't help but grin, though the expression felt weak. "True... motion passed and carried. Of course that brings us to another problem."

"Yeah..." Aethyta's daughter sighed, "I kept what I knew away from her during the meld, and she was too inexperienced to look for it, but... if my mother tells her that we knew, those three are going to put their issues behind them real quick."

"And come after us, yeah." I grimaced as I pushed my plate away, "And our only defense would be that we didn't know for certain, considering the changes."

"Considering her state of mind..." Joa's voice trailed off. "She wouldn't be very accepting of that excuse."

That drew yet another grimace as I sighed. "I know, but what can we do about it? If the old fish decides to tell them, there isn't much we can do about it. And considering we're about to send the three of them off to Illium to hunt her down, I don't think she'll be real accepting of any deals that we offer to keep her mouth shut."

Purple lips pressed together. "Hope for the best? Make ourselves the nicest, most supportive mercenaries available for them to talk with?"

I lifted a finger, "I think you should be the kindest, nicest, most supportive, most understanding, and most supportive half-sister in the galaxy from now until you take them and the _Reliant_ to Illium next week."

Joa blinked in faux-shock, lifting a hand to her mouth, "I thought I already was that awesome."

"Only in your head." I shook mine and smiled in bemusement, "Be honest with her about everything except what T'Ravt drilled into my skull. Shit, allude that Krom was one of hers, and maybe that he was something like Korolev if it comes up. Otherwise just focus on making sure she's emotionally stable enough to survive the next two years."

There was a sigh and a nod as she lowered her hand and became serious again, "I'm trying Cie, but this isn't crap she's just going to get over in a week. You know that."

Sadly, I very much did. Shit, it had taken more than a year for me to accept Rane's death, and in a lot of ways I knew I still wasn't 'over' her. "Yeah... I know. I'm not expecting a miracle, just for you to try. If what's coming up goes even sort of like what's in my head, your sister is going to be important to have around... and if she also didn't loathe us, that would be pretty good too."

"Like I said, I'll do what I can." Fingers pushed her own leftovers away as she sighed, "What's next? Don't we have that meeting or something?"

"In..." I glanced at the clock set into one of the room's bulkheads, "Twenty minutes, yes."

"Great." She muttered as she rose, grabbing both of our plates before carrying them to the desk near the door. "First all that, now we get to enjoy the mind-numbing boredom of organizational meetings. Did you invite any of the guests?"

"All three." I let my eyes close as she cleaned up for us, "Figured it would be a good idea to show them we aren't a bunch of psychopaths before they make up with Vakarian. Don't think your sister is coming though, she's still suffering that hangover. You really had to get her drunk?"

"Trena's idea."

Of course it had been... I didn't doubt that they'd gotten most of their information from both Liara and Korolev while feeding the young women booze. I couldn't bring myself to be surprised, or upset. Annoyed maybe, mostly because I'd been too buried in work to join them.

Joa grunted from somewhere nearby, "And I'm guessing the vigilante isn't going to leave his room for much of anything, so that just leaves the detective."

"Yup."

There was a sigh as her chair creaked, "Can I start on my report now or are you really going to make me wait?"

I let my lips curl into a little smile, and made a show of adjusting myself into a more comfortable position. My friend muttered something about me being an asshole, then sighed and did much the same... including kicking her legs up and resting them across my legs.

That was more or less the position that Trena and Ghai found us in when they arrived ten minutes later, the former announcing herself with a disgusted scoff.

"Fucking seriously?" She all but growled as a foot kicked Joa's legs off of me, "We're fucking _working,_ and you two fucks are _napping?"_

I cracked an eye open in time to see Joa let out a theatrical yawn as she stretched her arms out, pointedly using the motion to make throw her chest out a bit."Pretty much. Perks of outranking you."

Trena scowled at her. "You don't fucking outrank me."

"Cie?"

I shrugged, "Sure she does."

"You motherfucking ass-" Her curse cut off when Ghai planted her prosthetic hand over her mouth, her bondmate sighing and shaking her head.

"Cieran." She rasped, managing to sound both disappointed and annoyed. "Too early."

I blinked. "It's third shift."

My mind healer shook her head tiredly as she let go of Trena, shuffling around me towards the chair on my right. "Ethy. All night."

"And since Erana was catching up with her sister, we had to fucking deal on our own." Scales muttered as she followed her, giving Joa one last glare before the two took their own spots at the briefing table. "Goddess but that kid... she was awake for _twenty-two_ fucking hours and all but bouncing off the goddess-damned walls."

"Huh." I offered. "Weird."

Ghai froze, then very slowly turned to stare at me as her eyes narrowed to slits. "You. Fuck. Demonjuice?"

"Technically all I did was look the other way while Shyeel gave her two glasses." I hastily pointed out. "And she'd already finished the first before I even showed up."

Trena's upper lip twitched. "I don't fucking believe you. Ghai, rip his head open."

"This sounds fun." All four of us glanced over to see Captain Vishin arrive, the Batarian man grinning as his hands held a steaming cup of tea. Like the rest of us, he was wearing a simple dark blue uniform with silver accents, the shipment of clothes having finally come in a couple of local days back. "Dare I ask?"

"The fucking ape and Shyeel gave our daughter enough caffeine and sugar to kill a Salarian." Trena growled.

"Ah, that." He nodded, "I heard Lancer T'Voth speaking with Lancer Chi about such a plan. They were quite amused by the concept."

A muscle in my old friend's blue cheek twitched a few times. "And you didn't fucking tell us?"

Vishin shifted his tanned head to show his disbelief that she would even ask the question, "Ruin Voya'chi's plans to torment someone? I'm sorry, but I enjoy the act of living."

That drew scowls from both of Ethy's parents, but they couldn't exactly deny that Vishin's life expectancy would have been nil if he'd fucked that up. The two of them fell into an irritable, exhausted silence as the Captain of marines arrived and took the chair next to his immediate superior. He promptly passed Joa the cup of tea before bringing his omni-tool up, his voice low as he showed her a report about his people's status.

I mostly tuned it out, which let me notice as the next two arrivals came in. The taller of the pair was Civ Lexu, a Xenthan Turian and Joa's Executive Officer. Like most others from that world, he had dark gray skin beneath silver plating, the color brought out further by the jagged blue paint across his face. His natural height seemed all the more extreme compared to the tiny Batarian woman next to him.

Nara ul Thui might have had a couple of inches on Trena, but only a couple. Her tanned features bore a satisfied expression as she picked at her new uniform, and her lips curled a little as her lower eyes caught sight of my lounging frame.

"Reyja'krem." Her low voice purred as her upper set openly slid up and down my body before focusing on my long hair, "It's good to see you again."

"Nara." I tilted my head to the right as she dipped hers to the left. "Same."

Her grin brightened a few watts before she followed Civ to the two open chairs next to Joa... her arrival heralding fewer professional complications for me, but from the blatant once-over she'd just given me... probably an additional host of personal ones. The pair of them had barely settled before four more people arrived, though I was far less thrilled to see one of them.

Out in front, Illyan laughed as Korolev's tan skin flushed even darker, my lover leading the human woman towards the table as she teased her about looking at something. I felt my lips twitch as Illyan pointedly flicked her eyes towards Trena, and how my fellow experiment was refusing to so much as look in that direction. The tiny motion became a small smile as the large Asari quickly corralled the girl when she tried to flee, making sure that she ended up next to scales, who was too busy still fuming to notice the prime source of amusement that had just been dropped beside her.

The third member of the group was the only new recruit to be added to my personal 'staff', a young, teal-skinned Batarian man named Ven ul Thusan. As usual he looked half star-struck at the company he was now in, and half-stressing out that he was about to say or do something stupid that would get him evicted. The midcaste exile quickly took a seat next to Nara, fingering a tablet as he visibly forced himself not to look anywhere near myself or Illyan.

Honestly I barely noticed his perpetual nervousness, because I was too busy being annoyed that Vakarian had elected to crawl out of his room. The Turian was in his battered armor, as always, though sans a helmet for once. Disdaining any of the remaining seats, he elected to lean against the bulkhead near the doorway, crossing his arms as he met my stare with a gimlet glare of his own.

"Right." I sighed as I turned away from him, straightening myself out properly and rolling my shoulders to get myself into better highborn posture. "Let's start with the intros, for those who don't know her, our new arrival is Nara ul Thui, formerly of the Lady Warlord's Xenthan Empire."

Nara dipped her head politely to everyone else, "Thank you for accepting me, Reyja'krem."

Trena let out a grunt as she pulled her pipe out of a pocket, her hands automatically working to prep it. "Why the fuck you leave your cushy Colonel's position?"

"I was informed that I was to be transferred to a training cadre, to impart the knowledge taken from the Redcliffe campaign." Tan lips pressed together for a moment, "I elected to accept retirement instead, and reached out to the Reyja'krem to see if your organization had a place for me."

There was a snort from Joa as she glanced at me, "You arrange that?"

I shrugged, "No. In hindsight I probably could have, but according to the Lady Warlord this was some kind of internal power struggle between her generals. She's staying out of it, and we're benefiting, so I don't see the need to get involved either. Nara is going to take the post of Senior Captain and will have command of the first regiment we're still forming. Vishin? You're shifting from from the _Reliant_ to act as her XO."

He nodded politely, while our new ground commander spoke up again, "How much recruitment work has already been done?"

I flicked my eyes to Vishin, and he obliged me by speaking up, "Between our initial recruits and my surviving marines, we can form two line companies, but many of them are former gang members who need more extensive training before they're even close to ready."

Nara nodded, "Are you intending to form just the single regiment? Your territory seems too large to merely be protected by one."

"Maybe as many as five." I grimaced at the admission, "By the end of this year, and as many as five more the year after. You're going to have to pay very close attention to your officers to pick out new potential Captains. Base plans has us leaving four regiments in our enclave at all times for policing and security, the rest will be out on assignment."

Detective Korolev cautiously raised her voice, "And what would those assignments be?"

"We'll get there." I shook my head, "Joa, the fleet?"

"Is a bunch of shit." The pirate groaned, "Seriously Cie, did Aria intentionally give us the most beat up wrecks she could fucking find?"

"Probably." I admitted. "That bad?"

She made a face, "Besides the _Reliant_ , we've got another Batarian heavy cruiser, IFF has her as the _Headsman._ Hegemony records have her has having been taken by a Pack raid on a dark rim colony about fifty years back... but those fucking Krogan used her hard even before Aria's ships blasted her engines to pieces. She'll need at least a six month overhaul, then a full shake-down run."

"Can we do that here or do we have to send it elsewhere?"

"I'm already working with Leska to tow her to Illium." Joa supplied, "If you want just what we can get fixed up at our docks or at what Aria will let us use, I've got five frigates and three corvettes that _might_ be ready to go in six months if we can find trustworthy crews for them."

Ghai glanced at me, her rasping voice making those who didn't know her blink in surprise, "Same plan?"

"Yeah." I exhaled, "Voya's going to talk with the High Elder about letting us set up a full recruitment shop in the Old District, but I want the rest of the crew to come from Illium and the other Asari colonies from the spinward zone. Locals for rank and file only, no one from Omega we don't know personally in command of even a corvette."

Everyone nodded at that, though it was oddly Korolev who looked the most approving of that, "You don't trust the locals?"

"Having lived here... no, not even a little." I admitted. "That reminds me, Nara? I'll give you Ayle's information, work with her to get Xenthan and Redcliffe recruits for your regiments. Locals can be in support units, but keep a close eye on the corruption."

Her lower eyes flicked to her omni-tool as she entered a note, while her upper-set stayed on me, "Do you have plans for an internal police force, as Lady T'Ravt is establishing?"

"Yeah. Us." Trena grunted as smoke trailed from her nose, "When we aren't on fucking missions, we're going to be putting the fear of the fucking goddess in anyone stupid enough to break any of the rules the ape's setting up."

I quickly held up a hand, "One thing at a damned time scales. Joa, rest of the ships?"

There was a rolling shrug, "We've got three destroyers, but one's basically just scrap that I was going to sell to Die Waffe for salvage costs. The other two are going to have to go to Illium, plus another frigate and two more corvettes. Figure year and a half before everything is repaired... and you don't want to know the expenses."

Expenses... I'd already had to deal with more balance sheets in the last week than I had in the rest of my life put together, and it was as dull as I feared that it would be. That there wasn't anything like a government or paperwork for our new 'zone' of control wasn't helping, as we had absolutely no idea how much income we might draw in just from the population.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, I sighed and moved on. "Yeah... right, Scales, how's the new Lancer team?"

Blue lips pursed around her pipe as she took a slow draw, "I'll give that Eclipse bitch her due, Raik Chek was a good recommendation. He knows his shit and he's competent in a fight. Little weird, but what Krogan isn't these days. Vessian's a Xenthan Turian, hasn't shown much personality yet, or much of a fucking spine, but he's damned good with that rifle and knows his way around grenades."

I nodded, "Expansion?"

"I'd like at least two or three more, if Illyan and Ghai can't come with."

Illyan let out a deep snort, "I'm still on vacation."

"And I need your bondmate as my own XO." I added. "I know you don't want to do it Ghai, but you're really the only choice. You have anyone in mind scales?"

"I want Mirala, soon as that demonic bitch gets back from her vacation." She replied promptly. "A medic too, I'm bitching at Ithiri to give us Washana back. Probably going to have pay her off or some shit. Shit, reminds me, Koro...whatever your name was, you know were Nought ended up?"

The Detective blinked in surprise, "Nought...? You mean Jack? No, she... lit out after the funeral, she wasn't in good shape but we couldn't stop her."

Trena grimaced. "Athame's ass... having her back would be good, and the ape still has to apologize in person for that hacked shit."

I twitched a little but didn't deny it. It hadn't been my fault, but it had probably been the reason she'd stayed with Shepard instead of returning to the Terminus. "I'll ask the old fish, preferably before we send our guests to her. Maybe one of her agents will have heard something."

My old friend grunted, "Apart from that, can't think of more. Six ass team should be solid, but I wouldn't say no to more if you could bring them in."

"Only other candidate I've got in mind is Massani." I exhaled, "But he's been MIA for most of last year, and he wouldn't come cheap regardless. I'll keep an eye out but for now, find your sniper and get Washana back."

She nodded again, pulling her pipe back to her mouth and resuming smoking. Behind her, Korolev wrinkled her nose at the smell, then cocked her head a little and seemed to instantly relax with a distant look in her eyes.

Trying to ignore that particular oddity, I cleared my throat and moved on, "Right, funds and contracts. We're being propped up by the income from the other two branches right now, with the Traditionalist block hiring them on for the duration of the civil war. That obviously isn't going to last... so we're going to need to establish our own sources of income. Joa, you and I have a meeting with Horizon's governor general two weeks from now, he's sending an agent to negotiate in his stead."

That finally seemed to get Vakarian's attention, "Horizon? Why would they need you?"

I glanced up at him, searching his tones for vitriol and finding myself confused at the seemingly honest question. "They've always relied on PMC's to keep them safe from piracy, and there's a lot more of that moving back into the Traverse since the Alliance and Hegemony both pulled out."

Joa nodded and spoke up in support, "And a lot of the smaller pirate bands are clearing out of the Terminus right now, with all of the big fleet movements still going on. You think he'll want ground troops as well?"

"I'm assuming so," I nodded, "Work with Nara on whatever timeline she sets up for companies coming online. Make the timing clear on when you can get more ships ready and in position as well."

"Got it." She exhaled, "There's a few other human colonies out there we could try and establish ourselves with as well. Freedom's Progress, Ferris Fields, Carastes..."

I blinked. "They recolonized that shithole already?"

"It's a decent planet, and it was suddenly available."

Huh. I shrugged, "Use your best judgment and keep me in the loop, same with you Nara. Ven, how's our enclave?"

The, until-now silent young man, swallowed heavily as our attention fell on him. "It's... still chaotic, Reyja'krem. This was a major slave trafficking zone, with most of the prod... prisoners flowing from our new docks to Tuhi. I am working with the Talons and Eclipse to establish contacts with those businesses that remain, but it will likely be some months before things settle."

I nodded politely, "I assumed as much. Has Nynsi sent the staff she promised?"

"The first of them have begun to arrive," He bowed his head, "Honored Shaaryak's people seem competent, we should be able to establish an effective economy and tithing system. There has already been the initial stirrings of a migratory movement towards our zone, likely due to the Reyja'krem and his mate's fame and reputation."

Illyan and I both twitched a little, both at his reminder that we could barely walk down a street without being gawked at, and his choice of wording in regards to our increasingly complicated relationship.

"Athame's fucking ass," Trena growled as she noticed our reactions, "Enough with the honorifics kid. He's not a goddess-damned deity, and Shaaryak isn't an honored bloody anything."

Ven's mouth moved a few times as the bands around his mouth darkened, "I... it is difficult, ma'am."

"You'll get used to it." Nara assured him politely, "And Kean will pound it out of your head soon enough."

That didn't seem to be as reassuring to him as she intended, but he nodded slightly and pushed on. "As per your orders, we are aiming for a fairly enclosed economy, Reyja'krem. Lessened exposure to the remainder of the station should keep corruption, and violence, down. Copying Illium's regulations on specific goods will likely take a little longer, given that we don't have their bureaucracy."

Vakarian let out a chirping grunt, "That's how you're going to handle the drug dealers? Red tape?"

I glanced at him and shrugged, "Sort of... we're going to setup the same as Nysni runs things in Khar'shan Minor. Authorized dealers from actual stores only, with guards and medics around to make sure no one's selling shit they shouldn't be to people who'd die if they took it."

The human woman between Trena and Illyan wrinkled her nose, "You're going to be profiting off of drug sales? That's... oh. They'd just go elsewhere, wouldn't they?"

"Pretty fucking much." Scales exhaled more smoke and shook her head, "You know a place is a bloody cesspool when fucking _Illium_ is a step up."

"But... wouldn't it still be better not to?" Korolev asked hesitantly. "Are you going to be selling weapons and things to civilians too?"

I rolled a shoulder in another shrug, more than a little aware that I had to get the fuck off of this topic before Vakarian stepped in. Or before one of us said something that destroyed any credibility we had with Korolev, and thus T'Soni. "Like you said, if we didn't, they'd just buy it from somewhere else on station. That does remind me though, Ven? Take some of the discretionary funds and pick up as many sensors as you can, the ones tuned to slave chips. Anyone tries to sneak them in, I want an example made."

"I'll will do what I can, honored Reyja'krem, but until we have more manpower..." He warned even as he took down the notes.

"I here you... do what you can for now." I sighed, "Expect to have weekly meeting with me on the progress of that. Back to you scales, not much call for a commando team off station right now, but Nyreen is planning something to get rid of the True Sons. You might end up contracted out to help with that, or working with Aria to clear out the mines."

Trena flinched. "There's _still_ shit in those?"

"Yeah." Illyan murmured, "We definitely didn't kill everything, and I doubt she's had time to fully search them."

"What... happened in there?" Korolev asked quietly.

Dead silence answered her, everyone glancing at Illyan and I in turn. We exchanged a single look, and then one of my fingers tapped the table once as I spoke again, my voice only barely polite. "If that is everything, feel free to disperse. Everyone here, sans our guests, can expect to have weekly meetings with me. Erana or Ghai will get in touch for the schedule of those."

The Chosen One flinched a little, and murmured an apology to Illyan as she stood up. My lover merely sighed and reached up to ruffle her short-cropped hair before nodding for the girl to go. Everyone else quickly began rising and conversing quietly as they filed out, Trena patting me on the shoulder as she departed.

Which left me with just Illyan.

"You didn't have to sound like an ass to her." She sighed as she stood up, moving to lean against the table next to me. "She was just asking."

I grimaced a little. I still didn't like talking about past campaigns in the fashion that many others did, but I understood the need to correct rumors and appear approachable. But with that being said... "I know, but shit... we agreed that what the fuck happened in those mines stays with us and Ghai. We have enough nightmares about those damned tunnels without having to relay it to other people."

"Yeah..." Arms reached down to turn my chair, then rose and wrapped around my neck to gently pull my face against her stomach. "Sorry I've been a bitch lately."

One of my shoulders twitched as I shifted my head a little, closing my eyes as I inhaled her scent. My own arms rose on reflex, wrapping around her strong waist. "It's all right. I know you wanted a real vacation, not... more work and even more mercenary crap."

Her stomach tightened, then relaxed as she breathed. "Yeah, well... Athame's a bitch sometimes. Have anything planned for the rest of today, or can I drag you to bed to apologize for that crap I said yesterday?"

"Two training runs." I muttered into her shirt, "But fuck it, Ghai can handle those. I want a damned vacation too. Send Erana to bring up rum?"

"Read my mind boss."

* * *

 **Silver Blade Communications Log**

 _Cieran,_

 _Good to hear that the reformation is proceeding fairly well, though I'll admit to sharing your and T'Voth's frustration on the warships. Perhaps you can reach out to Leska Sederis to accelerate repairs? This is perhaps the first time I'll admit to regretting that we have never worked for Die Waffe in any real context._

 _There is little to say about our campaign at the moment, we are still securing the colonial zone in the Dark Rim, but preparations for the edge campaign have begun. The Eclipse fleet is still en route, but Jona and the Traditionalist Highborn have come to some kind of agreement with Cessa. She won't be involved in direct conflict, but she's agreed to sell supplies at something close to cost._

 _I'm not sure who was surprised more that she has a sufficient economy to provide such things, Leska, T'Ravt, or Aria._

 _I will provide you with further updates as the fighting actually begins, please do keep in touch as well._

 _With fondest memories,_

 _Executive Commander, Xentha_

 _Ayle ul Massa_

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 2: Relaxation**_

 _And now we're back to Cieran. We get a bit of perspective on Liara and Korolev, and news about the Silver Blades moving onto Omega full time. The next chapter will move into the relationship issues that Cie and Illyan have evidently stumbled across during the last month._ _The communications log is going to be the persistent post-chapter bit, filling out more bits of the story. Expect to see both letter-style mail as well as back and forth texting sections._

 _A reminder, posts for this story will now be regular; occurring every Monday at a minimum, and occasionally on Thursdays as well. On a personal note, the first chapter of my fantasy story is now up on my , and is free to read for anyone that wants to go over and take a look._

 _For those looking to talk with others about the story, remember that there is a forum, including a topic specifically for talking about this story. To get there, simply add the following url to the base FF one;_ _topic/200471/160516726/1/Another-Realm-VI-Chevalier_

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon / Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **New Story Recommendation:** **The Old Ways: Extra**_

 _Please head over to_ _Vo0d0o-D0L_ _'s new story, which is actually set in a variation of the AR verse, and covers the experiences of another of the Matriarch's experiments._ _To get there, simply add the following url to the base FF one;_ s/12379990/1/The-Old-Ways-Extra

* * *

 _ **Review Responses;**_

FenrisulfWotanbane – It's mostly the Terminus culture angle. Liara and Nikita are very much products of their environment, just as Cieran is. We'll see some more of their adjustment to the Terminus in Those Who Fight.

Fan-rei → No, Garrus is just Garrus.

Aelund → They were both in full concealing armor, specifically to try and hide the fact that they're in mech bodies... and Cie's attention was more on Liara and Nikita regardless.

Griezz → I won't go higher than a maybe on that one. Nikita's got her role to play, but this remains Cieran's story. She'll have some parts in TWF, but those chapters will be much shorter than these.


	6. Act 1-2: Relaxation

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Relaxation**

 _Date:_ 01-25-2185

 _Location:_ Cruiser _Reliant_ , docked with Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

Metal rang as two canes collided, my opponent and I quickly breaking our weapons apart before lashing them together once again. There wasn't much strength behind either blow, both of us treating the warm-up for what it was, our armored bodies lazily circling around the empty cargo bay that we'd converted into a training room.

"Athame's ass ape, only _you_ could manage to fuck up a relationship with Illyan." Trena sighed as she flicked her weapon towards my shoulder, her eyes idly watching as a I parried the thrust. "Seriously, it's like you've got some kind of curse that makes you complicate all the shit that you manage to touch."

"Our relationship isn't fucked up." I shook my head defensively as a slash at her head was neatly blocked, "It's just..."

"Complicated?"

I glowered at her, "Strained."

"Same shit." She snorted as she dodged a low slash, "I fucking knew this would happen when you four fucking ran out on me."

One of my eyebrows stepped up as I stepped away from her, hefting my cane up behind my head and using it like a bar to start stretching my arms out. She grunted and started loosening up her legs as I spoke, "You knew I'd end up with Illyan that far back?"

"I _worried_ that you'd end up with her." Scales corrected me, "Athame's ass, I was hoping you and that little bitch wold actually start fucking. That would have been fucked up in its own way, but it would have been bloody easier to help you both through it."

I actually flinched a little, "You really worried about it? You think we're that bad for each other?"

Trena sighed, "Of course not ape. In your own screwed up way you're not half-bad for each other; she's doing a good job of drawing out the you I haven't seen since Rane got killed, and you're the safe harbor she always knows will be there for her. The problem isn't that you're going to kill one another or crap like that."

That mollified me a little bit, and I let out a long breath as I rolled my arms out before starting on my legs. "So it's just all the circumstances. And our histories."

"And the fact that you're bloody incapable when it comes to romance." She muttered.

I narrowed my eyes, "What the fuck does that mean?"

She rolled hers, "I mean it's either just fucking or its full-on bonding. You don't have goddess-damned in between step ape. You and Shaaryak skipped the whole dating thing, and Rane fell so fucking hard for you that she didn't need it."

My attempt to reply to that was cut off as I frowned, pursing my lips as I tried to rifle through my relationships. Nynsi and I hadn't really dated, no. We'd bonded through conflict and gone too fast as a result. Rane'li had been... well, she'd been Rane. Even though we'd never once actually articulated our feelings for one another, I don't think there had ever been a question in my head or hers about what we were to each other.

And then there had been Ayle, Nara, and Amy... dammit, _Emily_ , who had all been variations on mutually agreed upon one-night stands.

I let out a slow breath as I kept stretching, "You think we should have gone a bit more slowly?"

"I think that you need to work on accepting the fucking fact that people can sleep together repeatedly even if they aren't in love with each other." She replied bluntly, "Easy question, do you?"

I winced a little. "I don't know. Neither does she."

Trena blinked, then snorted, "You've at least talked with her about this shit?"

"Obviously." I retorted, "We meld almost every other night, and this isn't the kind of crap we'd keep from each other anyways. Not being sure if we're romantically in love or not is an issue we're aware of."

My friend grunted, watching as I rolled my neck out and twirled my weapon up to an en-garde position. "First touch?"

I nodded, and we both quieted down and settled into our fighting stances. Keeping one hand on the cane's pistol grip, I shifted my other to lightly balance it just forwards of the grip. Trena elected for a higher clasp around her own, hefting it up in a higher guard as she settled her shorter frame.

I moved forwards first, trying to use my longer reach to keep her at bay as I lashed out at her head with short thrusts intended to minimize the risk to myself. Small though she was, my friend was anything but slow, and she effortlessly parried away both attacks before moving forwards in a quick bob-and-weave motion to try and get inside my guard as she flicked her own weapon at my left shoulder.

Metal rang as I blocked it, twisting my shoulders to try and throw her into a stumble. She accepted the motion, but kicked off with her legs and threw herself into a roll that took her entirely under my counter-strike, coming up with her back to me. Her cane flicked over her shoulder even as she straightened, easily catching the slash I'd reflexively launched at her neck, her body spinning to kick my weapon away and drive her own towards my side.

I was fast enough to get it around, but not fast enough to set myself against the power of her blow, and her strike easily drove my unbalanced weapon aside to crash into my arm.

"Shit." I swore quietly as I staggered back, my wrist hurting more from the failed block than my shoulder from the blow. "Dammit."

"Not bad." She rolled a shoulder as she stepped back, hefting her weapon onto a shoulder. "Too fucking aggressive though ape. Relax, you've got enough reach to annoy a lot of assholes. Stay defensive until you're sure of the kill."

"I know, I know." I exhaled, "Just used to using my gauntlets."

"And you're really fucking good with those," She admitted, "But having more than one trick is important ape. You're good enough with that stick to beat down idiots, but anyone who knows what they're doing will hand you your ass if they can break those Batarian toys around your wrists."

"Fair point."

There was a grunt, "Right, back to you and Illyan. If you've both admitted that much, what else are you both aware of?"

"More than a couple of things." I leaned on my cane as I spoke, "Next easiest one, and probably the one causing the most issues to be honest, is the fact that she doesn't want to be here. She thought... shit, _we_ thought that we'd be going back home once Krom was dead. Me being dragooned into acting as an Omega warlord wasn't really what she had in mind for a vacation."

Trena scowled as she shook her head, "And of course she won't leave you to take a break for herself, just to get away from this shit."

"Of course I won't." We both glanced up as the person in question closed the bay door behind her, wearing black sweatpants and a plain shirt with our corporate logo between her breasts. "He's useless without me."

It was my turn to scowl, "Useless?"

Illyan gave me a patronizing grin as she walked over, patting me on the head like I was a dog. "It's ok Cie, you're decorative...fucking ouch!"

I hit her with the cane a second time, jabbing it into her stomach just to make my annoyance perfectly clear. "You deserved that."

She rolled her eyes and stepped back, "Eh, maybe. You talking about us?"

Trena rolled a shoulder, "Beats talking about fucking business crap. You don't love him?"

My lover scoffed in time with me, "Of course I _love_ him, with all the crap we've been through. We just aren't sure if we're _in_ love with each other. Different things. And yeah, I'm still... kind of really irritated about being on this rock instead of being back home."

"And my refusal to entertain more threesomes isn't helping her." I added with a sigh. "She thought she broke through that particular irrational human custom."

"Twice." Illyan muttered.

"...twice," I allowed, "But it's still... not something I'm really comfortable with. Call me possessive."

"You're possessive." Both Asari spoke in unison, though I really could have done without Illyan adding on, "You're _really_ possessive sometimes. I honestly thought it was cute at first, but it's kind of... well, it's going cold on me."

I blinked a little, then sighed. "I'm that bad?"

"It's not the awful kind of possessive," She clarified, not unkindly, "Shaaryak would have killed you if you were like that... but she and Rane were both really, really clear that you were _theirs_ , and you liked and reciprocated that kind of thing. You usually tend to... kind of sulk and self-flagellate if I'm flirting with someone else, or going with them for a bit of fun."

"Wait." Trena cut in, "You _still_ go with other people? I thought he said no to that kind of shit."

My lips pursed as I exhaled, ignoring the question and hefting my cane up to signal my readiness for a second round. Trena groaned as Illyan cleared out of the way, lifting her own weapon up before advancing on me. The second round lasted longer than the first, mostly because I kept her reminders in my head and fought far more defensively to try and wait her out.

It worked for about a minute, then I overreached on a beat and earned a thrust that slammed into my stomach and rocked me backwards.

Grimacing, I shook off the sting as we broke apart, "Yes... she does, only when I'm working. I still want her with me at night, but the days are hers to enjoy her vacation. No, I'm not happy about it, but I refuse to control her."

Scales regarded me, then shook her head, "That's fucked up... but I can respect a bit of it. What about her bringing them back?"

"That's a no." Illyan sighed, "Almost always."

"I... let Rane change herself for me, and in hindsight I should have made it clearer that I liked her for who she was. I don't want to make that kind of mistake again." I answered Trena first, then turned to Illyan. "And I _did_ say you could bring Joa to our room tonight."

"Yeah, but was that because you wanted to, or because I did?" I winced a little, and Illyan gave me a small smile as she nodded, "Don't me wrong, I appreciate it, and I'm not saying I'm not dragging her purple ass to be with us... but I know you're doing it to make me happy instead of yourself."

Trena shook her head, "This is not a good way to run this crap. For either of you." We both gave her looks that told her that this wasn't news to either of us, and she scoffed mid-sentence before turning to me, "And fucking seriously? You're _still_ all 'sex with just me or fuck off'? You're that controlling?"

"I just fucking said he isn't controlling." Illayn shook her head irritably, "Honestly I don't even really get _why_ he's so hung up about it. He doesn't care about all of the partners that I've had, or when I flirt with Joa. Athame's ass, he doesn't even really get jealous if she pays too much attention to me, he just enjoys the show."

I felt my cheeks redden slightly as a few lewd memories of doing just that ran through my head. "I just don't like the idea of it, all right?"

One of her own hands rose to smack Trena in the face as she groaned, running the fingers down over her mouth. "You're in his fucking head, and you're telling me you don't _know_ why he's so fixated on that crap?"

"I can't know if he doesn't." She rolled a shoulder, "Ghai's the one who can pick out his subconscious stuff, but she refuses to go rummaging around just to find personal things for me."

I made a face at her wording, " _Illyan_."

My lover grimaced, "Sorry, you know I didn't mean she does that kind of thing."

"I know, just..." I shuddered a little. "More tact, all right?"

Trena snorted, " _You're_ asking someone for tact? What the fuck is-" Her words cut off as a cane lashed out at her legs, my long body breaking into a lunge that I quickly followed with a pair of hard slashes at her ankles, "Fuck-off-ape!"

I ignored her and pressed my advantage as she frantically parried, driving her off-balance form back and refusing to give her any time to properly settle herself. A hard beat after my fourth slash drove her cane down, and I quickly shifted into another hard lunge that rang off of her left breast. She yelped a little, even with her armor protecting it, dancing away and cursing furiously.

"Fucking shit..." Scales growled, "Fine. What the fuck do you think it is? Some bit of human culture sticking through the damage? Or just the implanted shit sticking hard with you?"

"Honestly don't know." I replied as I cautiously took a few steps back, making sure I had room to maneuver if she decided to suddenly repay me. "Considering I was apparently raised by a Batarian woman, I doubt its anything from my youth, and I had to have been too young to understand that kind of thing when I was with my birth mother."

Illyan nodded slightly as she grabbed a foldout chair, letting the thing expand itself as she spoke, "Ghai won't say anything in detail, but she did tell me you're... kind of damaged in that regard. Athame's ass, you still can't get through one night without someone in bed with you."

A good deal of Trena's anger abruptly seemed to fade, "Cieran, you're still...?"

"Ghai wanted to see if I was actually any better." I replied, pursing my lips a little. "So Illyan spent the night in Erana's room for three days."

"He got _maybe_ three hours a night." Illyan added as she sat down, "He didn't have any attacks or anything, and she thinks those are mostly past, but... the insomnia and nightmares came right back without someone there."

There was a quiet grunt from Trena as she shifted to lean on her cane, silently offering a momentary truce. "You think that's part of it? Subconscious clinging to just one person he knows will be there for him?"

"We think that's a possibility." I admitted, "Considering that I don't have any rational reason to be upset with her being with other people, not when I knew that she would likely be when we started this relationship. Ghai's other theories are that its either some kind of side-effect from what happened to me, or else an implanted compulsion."

Trena's gem colored eyes narrowed. "Why the fuck would she... oh. Shit. You think...?"

"I think that we all had to be experiments for something." I grimaced. "And that just because Ghai hasn't found anything overt doesn't mean there isn't anything more subtle there."

"And she and I think we know what it was about," Illyan added, her voice lowering, "We think he was supposed to go after you, Trena." My lover and I both snorted at the look of absolute horror on the shorter Asari's face, "Yeah, that's why I think it didn't take. But if it had worked it would have told that Matriarch bitch that she could point her chosen candidates at specific members of Shepard's crew."

Scales gathered herself, shaking her head furiously to get something out of it before speaking, "Shit, you think that's why Korolev is all over T'Soni?"

"I think that might be why she pointed T'Soni at Shepard and then tried to go for Vakarian." I corrected, "From what Joa's gathered, the detective was always making faces at T'Soni, and Liara never quite understood why she shot her down and went after the Turian instead."

"Huh... good to know that ancient crone really is a huge fucking bitch." Trena exhaled as she rolled her shoulders, hefting her cane up, "But that's all theory shit, right? You don't know?"

Illyan answered for us, since I was also bringing my weapon up in preparation. "It's just a theory, yeah. Honestly, best odds are that it's a legacy from the implanted personality."

There was a grunt before conversation ceased once again, metal singing as it collided. Scales wasn't in any mood to show me any mercy or take it slow after the point I'd scored on her, and she wasted absolutely no time in snapping her way through my guard before jabbing a thrust into my gut.

Cursing, I stumbled back and only barely got reset before she started yet another round. The second engagement lasted longer, mostly because I threw myself into a continuous retreat as she prowled forwards, frantically parrying away blows intended to collide with my unprotected face. I nearly managed a counter-strike after she overreached on a thrust, only for a flick of her biotics to deflect my strike.

The end of her weapon whipped into my temple before I could curse her out for using the push, making me swear for entirely different reasons.

"Fucking shit...!" Reaching up, I checked for blood, and found just a little. "Bitch."

"Fucking toughen up." She growled back, absolutely no mercy in her tones. "You hit me right in the tit, I should have done fucking worse. That's my spar by the way, four to one... and what's your plan?"

I glared at her a bit as I lowered my cane, inhaling sharply as I kept my breathing even instead of letting my body pant tiredly. "My plan to get even with you, investigate Korolev, or what Illyan and I are going to be doing?"

"The last." Trena replied easily, tossing her cane over to Illyan with a slight flicker of biotic power before starting to pull at her armor. "You two ending shit, or you going to stick it out?"

"We're going to sail with the currents for another few weeks." Illyan answered for her, "See if he can't fully accept me being... well, me, and if I can tolerate the fact that he's not about to tell everyone to fuck off and ditch this warlord crap to go home with me."

Our friend nodded, "And if you end shit?"

"She gets at least a three month vacation on Illium," I replied, "At the Sederis mansion or Nynsi's place only though, for safety's sake given that she's not exactly unknown anymore. After that, she'll be back to act as my cadre."

"Body-guarding him, he means." She added, "And occasionally fucking him."

I rolled my eyes as Trena snorted, following her lead in terms of starting to peel myself out of my armor. "Once and a while."

Scales snorted, as she dropped her gauntlets, starting in on her arm plates, "At least you're both being reasonable about this shit. What about your sleeping issue ape? Don't tell me you're going to fuck Joa every night, or that tiny Batarian thing you brought in."

"No." I grimaced as I also worked, "Chehala again. Its out of my system at this point, and the effects would last until Illyan got back. In which case she'll be with me at night again, even if there isn't sex."

Trena gave me a sly look as her hands paused, "Ghai know that part of the plan?"

Of course she didn't. Illyan and I exchanged a quick look with each other, and then turned our combined glares at the petite woman. I kept my voice low as I growled at her, "Don't. Even. Think. About. It."

Blue lips pulled back from teeth, "Why the fuck should I? And don't try the I'm your commander bullshit."

"Erana likes me better than you." I retorted, "I wonder how much of a bad influence she could be on Ethy..."

"A very bad one." Illyan grinned as Trena's expression abruptly became ashen and pained, "Maybe teach her how to work her biotics... maybe exactly when she should interrupt her parents when they think she's asleep."

"Or how to unlock doors." I mused, "And open refrigerators. How much of a mess can a biotic three year old make anyway?"

"You..." Scales sucked in a breath, "You two are fucking evil. Fine, I won't fucking say shit, but she'll figure it out sooner or later."

"I know." The mirth faded a little, "I'll come up with something."

"If you say so." She replied with a shake of her head, "I'm going to go shower, we still have that meeting later ape?"

I nodded, "Second hour, fourth shift with Nyreen in Afterlife. Bring your guys with, she supposedly has intel on where the True Sons are holding up. I'll want all of you to go over it so you can tell Nara and Vishin how much support you want."

"Got it." Trena exhaled as she scooped up the armor she'd taken off of her arms, "See you both later."

We both nodded as she strode past us, using her elbow to hit the door as she left. Which just left me with Illyan, her eyes watching as I kept removing my armor, my legs carrying me over to the locker to put it away as I took it off.

"Not going to ask why I came down?" She asked bemusedly. "Or did you think I just stopped by to listen to you and Trena go over things we've already drowned a half-dozen times?"

"Of course not," I replied, "I figured you'd either get it out early if it was important, or save it until we were done if it wasn't."

There was a deep snort, "So you were too lazy to care... and it is important, but it's personal shit, didn't want to say it in front of her."

Turning around, I frowned at her as my brain puzzled over that. Trena might have been... well, Trena, but we still told her just about everything that there was to tell about our relationship. Which meant that whatever this was, it wasn't about us. Unless it was about us, specifically about the one topic that the pair of us were both a little uncomfortable about.

I grimaced, "Amy finally got into contact again?"

"Yes." She sighed, planting her hands on her knees as she pushed herself up to her feet, "You'll want to read it."

Lovely. Holding up a hand, I asked her to wait until I'd at least gotten the plating off. She waited patiently as I went through the familiar routine, tossing the training armor back into my locker with a bit more force that was probably required. It wasn't anger so much as... stupid levels of relief, my entire body practically quivering before abruptly sagging as the emotion washed over me.

A hand settled onto my shoulder as I let out a ragged breath, "Dammit."

"It's your kid, Cie." Illyan murmured as she firmly pulled me back, wrapping her other arm around my chest as she hugged me. "You're allowed to be relieved that they lived, even if..."

My eyes closed slowly, not caring for that tone of voice at all. "Even if what, Illyan?"

I felt her swallow as I flicked my eyes open, seeing a dim blue flow flicker into place around her arm as she brought her omni-tool online. A few quick gestures brought up the inbox she'd synced to my own, letting me read the message as she kept a hold of me with her other limb.

It didn't take very long, the message was barely a paragraph.

 _I know that you were involved with the raid on Benihi. The documentary will be finished according to the contract struck with Shaaryak and Massa. Do not attempt to contact us again. Aiden is fine, the agents you hired kept us safe during the attack. Thank you and goodbye._

"So that's that then." I closed my eyes as I finished, "Athame's fucking ass... that decision is seriously going to haunt me, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry." Her voice was pure compassion as she closed the computer down, pulling me more tightly against her. "How do you think..?"

"The Matriarch." I muttered the title, "She probably doesn't know his parentage, but she'll know we were friends. Repaying me for fucking up shit for her."

"Probably." Illyan agreed quietly, leaning down a bit to nuzzle her face into my hair, "I thought we could pay the old fish to keep a few agents around, make sure they're safe. I can handle that, if you want."

My breath came out in a short, ragged exhalation as I nodded. "Yeah, please. Did... I didn't have anything scheduled, did I?"

"Not until you and Trena have to go to Afterlife."

"Right..." I sucked in some oxygen. "You want to go get Joa, and see if she'd care to join us? I... would rather not think right now."

Strong arms tightened briefly around my chest, "Can do. We'll be there soon, all right? Don't start the heavy drinking without us."

"Won't." I promised quietly as she let go, warm lips touching my cheek as she pecked it before heading out. Waiting until I heard the door shut, I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. When that failed...

Pain ran up and down my right arm as I lashed out, punching my locker viciously as I let out a wordless curse.

Athame's fucking ass... I didn't even know how to feel in that damned moment. Furious at Amy for cutting me off from a child that I'd never met, or even seen a bloody _picture_ of. Feeling the wellspring of loathing for Cynthi T'Ravt deepening at the levels she would go to just to make my life miserable. Relief that I wouldn't have to interact with a son that I had never truly wanted, the entire situation one I'd never known how to handle. Disgust at myself for feeling said relief in the first place.

Regret for going along with Cerberus's fucking plan, coming with its own side-argument that they would have attacked the place anyway. And in either case, it wasn't as if any colonists had actually died according the public reports I'd had Aethyta look up after. Plenty of dead in the mansion of course... and that looked bad as shit to anyone who didn't know all of the details. A lot of the staff had been young maidens.

I exhaled as I shook my arm out, flexing my fingers to work the stinging away as I let my legs start carrying me back towards my quarters.

Even if I could find a way to tell Amy... _dammit,_ Emily the details, would that really change anything? She might be more accepting of the results but I doubted it wold be enough to change her mind. After all, she'd been hesitant as it was about exposing her son to the kind of life that I lead. Which, on a few levels, I couldn't really blame her for. It was all of the issues of a having a military parent without the moral superiority that that brought with it.

And, honorable mercenary though I considered myself... I could still admit that I _was_ a mercenary. And a Warlord... and that was even worse. Athame's ass, why was I so fucking upset about this? I'd already had the idea of distancing myself from them for their own bloody safety as it was. It was entirely likely that I now had rivals who wouldn't give a shit about my fame and connections, and only see someone sailing into their once-exclusive waters.

People who wouldn't hesitate for a fucking second before abducting a child and its mother just to get at me.

I was only dimly aware of my body's movement, crew members scattering out of my way and exchanging alarmed looks with one another as they caught sight of my expression. The corridors seemed to fly past as I argued with myself, trying to work out just how the fuck I felt, contrasting it against how I thought I _should_ feel and just fucking confusing myself in the process.

Fingers punched the security code into my door as I reached it, the metal sliding away to permit me entry as I kept muttering to myself.

Dammit. The anger at Amy had lowered to little more than a simmer as I'd walked. I understood why she'd made the decision that she had, based on the data available to her. She, better than most, knew what kind of things that we were capable of when pushed. Voya and I, in particular. My fury at T'Ravt had likewise dropped to its usual background-constant. I always loathed the bitch for what she'd done to me and the others, at least when I bothered to spare her any thoughts at all.

It was the _relief_ that persisted... and the self-hartred that came with it.

Joa and Illyan arrived to find me sitting at my desk, carefully sipping rum as I glowered at nothing in particular.

"Cie." The Captain spoke quietly as Illyan moved past us both, stepping into our small bathroom to clean up first. "She told me."

I nodded once, half closing my eyes as I took another small draw of the rich alcohol. Human rum for once, spiced and aged in Nassau. It was much smoother than my usual Illium blend, almost comforting, which was why my subconscious had probably picked it out while I'd been lost in thought.

"I was angry at first, for her just ending it without asking me about anything. And then at T'Ravt, for fucking with me by way of my friends, and my... my..." Her lips pressed together as I struggled with the last word, needing a longer pull from the glass before I could manage it. "My friends and my son."

"And now?" She asked, her hands reaching up to start pulling at her uniform top, yanking it up and over her head without any preamble. There wasn't anything beneath it, but I was too far gone in a haze of self-pity and self-loathing to really appreciate the view.

"Now?" I replied, reaching out to refill my glass. "Now I'm just _relieved_ that I won't have to deal with that situation on top of everything else, and I fucking hate myself for it."

Joa grimaced, then snaked an arm out to grab the cup before I could drink again. She threw it back in a single motion, her throat working as she hummed in pleasure at the taste. "I don't know all the details, but I'm guessing you didn't want the kid?"

"No. Well... shit, I don't know." I exhaled as she carefully put the empty glass aside, a flick of her hand giving my body and the rolling chair it was in a slight biotic push away from the desk. "I didn't even want to think about the notion until after the Reapers were dealt with, and all of my prior relationships were with Batarians, so adoption."

"And that gives you plenty of time to think and accept." She sighed as hands began to tug at my slightly sweaty shirt, yanking and tugging until she'd gotten it off of me. "Let me guess, even if you did want a child, it wouldn't have been with her?"

With Amy Chang-slash-Emily Wong? A friend, sure, but I'd never pretended to harbor any deeper feelings for her. Our time together had been a result of two nights of drunken release after finally getting off of Redcliffe, not because we wanted anything more. And I still had no idea how I'd ended up in her bed instead of... well, almost anyone else's. Ayle, Shyeel, and Illyan had all been there, plus an entire crew of Eclipse Asari.

And while I could entirely admit that she was attractive, I'd long accepted my xenophillia as just a part of who I was. It wasn't like the notion of having sex with another human disgusted me or anything, but if I had the choice I knew I was far more likely to pick a Batarian woman or an Asari, and there had been plenty of both on board.

"No." I admitted. "I'm still not even sure how it happened to be honest."

There was a grunt as she pushed my legs together, making room for hers as she carefully climbed onto the chair with me. Warm fingers trailed across my chest as she occupied herself with my numerous scars, her favorite parts of me to touch and trace during foreplay. "Athame's ass, and you're surprised at being conflicted about this? I'd say you're allowed to have a mental tornado on the subject."

"Being conflicted is one thing," I exhaled as my body started to react to her touch, and the.. everything on display. "But I'm practically _thankful_ for that ancient bitch for taking the decision out of my hands."

Joa let out an annoyed little sound, "Cie, parental shit, from either end, isn't something you just deal with right away. It's going to take you some bloody time to work out how you actually feel. Stop worrying about how you feel _now,_ it probably won't be how you feel about it in six hours."

I lifted an eyebrow as she leaned in, pressing her bare chest against mine and not quite nuzzling her cheek against my own, "So I should shut up, touch you, and maybe call Shyeel if I still feel like crap in a week?"

"Precisely."

* * *

 **Silver Blade Communications Log**

 _Hello brother,_

 _Miss Voya thought that I should message you on her behalf, to let you know that she and Lancer-Captain Shyeel arrived at your compound safely. I don't really know why she couldn't do it, but I got the distinct impression that my life would be considerably shorter if I didn't do as she asked. Is she always that severe?_

 _In other news, Alexis is still an idiot in denial about crushing on a Batarian girl. Juria beat him up pretty good in a sparring match a while back, and he wouldn't shut up about it for most of a week. She keeps asking me when he's going to get over himself and properly ask her out, I told her that he was an idiot and it might be better if she just took charge._

 _I'll be sure to send pictures if she does, if nothing else the sight of him in pain might amuse you as it does me._

 _Also... could you please not tell Miss Voya that Haro and I are seeing each other? He doesn't think she'll take it well, and after really meeting her... did you really sleep in the same room with her? If so, is there some kind of trick to avoid being killed when she gets angry? I'm asking because as much as I like Haro, I really have no faith in his ability to keep us a secret._

 _Your brother,_

 _Magnus MacKinnon_

 _PS. Mum wants to know when you will be on Xentha next, I think she's intending on ambushing you and forcing you to sit down with us for some kind of family meal. Figured you could use the heads-up._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 3:**_ _ **Restitution**_

 _In good news, I'm a chapter ahead on AR, which means you all get a mid-week chapter. :) Hopefully this will continue in the future, mostly as my work schedule allows. For a quick update, here is my current posting schedule:_

 _Sunday Morning: Bellatores Proxima /or/ Amethyst Blade (original works on my P-a-treon)_

 _Sunday Evening: Another Realm_

 _Monday Evening: Those Who Fight_

 _Wednesday Evening: Another Realm (As schedule allows)_

 _And we get a lot of relationship talk about Cieran in this one, in pretty much all directions. The next chapter will be more plot related, but Cie's mental and personal health are going to be consistent themes throughout this story as he (and everyone else) attempts to recover from what they just went through._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

MichaTheRehabLurker → Another Realm, Amethyst Blade, and Arctic Storm, so three at once. And probably... but I really enjoy writing, so it's as exhilarating as it is terrifying. :)

Septim7 → See the forum reply for the general details, but at this moment it's basically as you say, with all three being regional commanders with little oversight from each other. Who is in charge (Cie or Ayle) varies entirely on who you ask.

Lavacaverns → Basically your question is this chapter lol.

Fan-rei → Enemies? I don't think Cie really considers those three to be his enemies. He definitely dislikes Garrus on a personal level, but enemies is a step farther than that. As for the information in his head... they aren't trusting it as much as it seems right now.

GreaterGoodIreland → Realistically, Korolev could probably be convinced, as could Garrus. Liara may not be ruthless, but telling her now would definitely be a bad idea. In a few months or a year she could probably be convinced that it wasn't a malicious decision on Cie's part, once she's had some more time to cope. The issue for Cie, and to a lesser extent Joa and the others, is that they're paranoid and they don't _know_ anythat for sure, and very much don't want to take the risk that someone would react badly and ruin potential future cooperation.


	7. Act 1-3: Restitution

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Restitution**

 _Date:_ 02-07-2185

 _Location:_ Silver Blades Enclave, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

"And there they go." Illyan sighed as we watched the _Reliant_ begin to drift away from the dock, the cruiser's maneuvering thrusters flashing as the final docking latches pulled free from its bulk. "You think this will work? That Joa can trick that old fish into showing up?"

"Probably." I rolled a shoulder in a shrug, not moving from where I was leaning against her. "Just say she wants to talk in person at Forever, show up in a shuttle and sic Liara on her."

She snorted, reaching up to gently run her fingers through my hair. "Let's hope so. Don't want both of them pissed at us if it doesn't work."

Instead we'd just have a furious Aethyta to deal with, assuming taking care of Liara didn't occupy her full attention. Which I would entirely admit to hoping that she would... the last thing I fucking needed was _both_ Shadow Brokers out to screw me and my friends over.

"How long until we leave?" Illyan continued.

"Second shift tomorrow." I exhaled, "And fuck but I am not happy about this one either."

Even with her behind me, I could practically hear the grimace in her voice, "I'm not either Cie. This is going to be fucking Benihi all over again, worse because we're going as... well, ourselves."

"No choice." My head shook a little, "Eclipse is the only group who can get us there fast enough, and we're covering it with negotiations with the place's leaders about a contract. While that keeps everyone's attention, we'll grab Jacqueline and get her the fuck out of there as quietly as we can."

It hadn't taken the actual Shadow Broker all that long to find her... unfortunately the news had been close to fucking atrocious. She was still alive, but her status as an involuntary guest of the Alliance's anti-pirate task force had come as an unwelcome surprise. That she was being held because she'd literally blown up some kind of undercover operation on Ferris Fields had also been something we hadn't been happy to hear. So far the old fish didn't have any idea _why_ she'd done it, but she and I had agreed that the Matriarch had probably had something to do with it.

Either way, we had a limited window to get our asses out to Ferris Fields and conduct a jailbreak before she was hauled off to Earth. The Alliance officially wanted to try her on some trumped up charge despite the entire thing happening on an independent colony, which probably meant that Cerberus was pulling strings to get her away from Corsairs unlikely to just let them walk off with their former experiment.

Which might have actually been a good sign. The Corsairs weren't exactly known as a racist-free group thanks to their long running war with Batarian pirates, and there was probably plenty of support for Cerberus within their ranks. If Jacqueline was supposed to be moved back to Alliance space, it was possible that whatever unit was holding her had a commander who wasn't in Harper's pocket.

Of course... that also meant that whoever was there might also not be a fan of Shepard's. According to our now departed guests, Shep had been _anything_ but beloved by the upper Admiralty in the time leading up to her death. That she'd been proven absolutely right in her constant declarations that the Geth were still a threat, and that Saren was still out there, had probably only rubbed salt in the old fools' collective eyes. They might not hand her over to Cerberus, but she might spend the next two years on ice... or worse.

"Who are we going with?" She asked as she let me go, the pair of us turning away from the observation bay's view so that we could start walking for the door. "Anyone we know?"

"Our old friends on the _Imminent Death."_ I replied, "Recently in from a refit above Illium, and they supposedly have Washana with."

"That'll make Trena happy." She noted as the door slid open automatically, depositing us in a bustling corridor just outside of our main docks. The staring, pointing, and murmuring started almost at once at the sight of our armor and coats.

We shared a quick, grimacing look with each other before wordlessly pulling our helmets off of our belts and hauling the protection into place. The downside of fame on Omega was that there was always some crazed lunatic who wanted to 'prove' themselves by offing someone important. Aria's bouncers apparently killed someone trying to force their way into Afterlife every other day or so, and she had to personally deal with would-be assassins on a monthly basis.

"When we get back, do me a favor and track scales down." I spoke as we got moving, the crowd automatically parting for us, "Make sure she has her guys ready to go... on that, you sure that you want to come with?"

"No." Illyan admitted, "I want you to feed me fruit and make me drinks while I lounge naked in in bed... you sure you have to go with? Isn't this why Trena's has her team now?"

"It is." I admitted quietly, "But... it's fucking Jacqueline. We might have sent Shepard to get her on Carastes, but she was one of us, and at the end of the day we weren't the ones who went to free her. Shit, _we_ left her on Kirkwall because we were too in shock to think crap through. We, _I_ , owe her. I'm going with at the very least."

She sucked in a sharp breath, then nodded reluctantly. "I can see that... dammit, not like I can let you run off without me."

I glanced up at her, "Sure you could. You could also catch a shuttle and get to the _Reliant_ long before they hit the Illium relay."

"Fuck no." The words were close to a growl, "I'm not leaving you like that, especially when we already agreed we'd see where we were in a month or so."

"Illyan..."

"No, look... shit." A heavy exhalation came out of her helmet. "Look, we both made some stupid assumptions about this whole relationship was going to go, me probably more than you, and the whole warlord thing just made it worse, but I still want to make the effort. So stop trying to chase me away."

I was silent for several steps, then shook my head, "You sure?"

"I still have Patriarch's war hammer."

A snort came out from my nose before I could stop it, "Shutting up."

There was a low chuckle as an arm rose, wrapping around my armored shoulders briefly before dropping, "And besides, if we do this mission right, should mostly be a stealth op right? With you negotiating and distracting while Trena handles the black-ops crap?"

"If we can do it right." I exhaled, betraying my lack of faith in our ability to do just that. Stealth wasn't exactly our strong-suit, especially with Voya and Shyeel on Xentha. They were good with knives and sniper rifles, and could move quick and quiet when they had to. Trena, as much I loved her like a sister, wasn't what anyone would call stealthy. And if Illyan and I had to get involved as well... well, our own tactics tended be rather ordnance heavy. "If Aethyta's plans of the prison are right, they should be able to get to her easily enough, it's getting back _out_ that will be the issue."

There was a soft, musing sound. "Yeah. Same rules as last time, right? Minimal damage?"

"No damage to the colony if we can help it," I confirmed, "We can always play it off to the locals that it was a specific conflict between us and the Corsairs, and that it had nothing to do with them. And I'd much rather not kill any of the Alliance's people either, last thing we need is the Butcher after us."

"Athame's ass no." She muttered back, "What about the Eclipse? They aren't worried about us dragging her reputation with the colonists down a bit?"

I grimaced. "Leska and Jona already made it clear to me that they're loaning us the ship as a transport option, and that Captain Hashen is going to say as much to whoever run's the colony. No Eclipse troops are coming down with us, anything that happens-"

"Is entirely our fault." My lover sighed. "You think this will really fuck us over with the human contracts out there?"

"Call it fifty-fifty." I admitted, "That's why we're going with minimal collateral, and Ven is already putting together a press release that this was strictly us against the Corsairs. He said he's also bringing in a few media types from Illium to try and spin this positively for us once we know more details."

"Can't say I approve of that." Illyan exhaled, "But that's practically tame compared to what some of the big fish do back home... back to the actual thing, I'm guessing we're going for lots of low powered biotics and overload mines, focus on getting in and out fast?"

I nodded sharply, "Plus an extra stock up of flash-bangs and stunners. Going to let scales handle most of the planning while we're en route, since I'll probably still be dealing with everything else."

Her helmet shifted a little as she glanced at me, "I'm guessing that's what you'll be doing while I'm hunting down Trena? More meetings that will leave you frustrated and exhausted?"

"Unfortunately..." I sighed tiredly as we reached a lift, easily claiming it for ourselves. A few quick button presses had us rocketing upwards. I resumed speaking as I watched the floors scroll past, "Have to make sure that Ghai has everything she needs. That Nara is coordinating with Nyreen in regards to that expedition down to Kima to wipe out the True Sons. That Ven can handle the economic crap we're still setting up. Athame knows what else is going to come up in the next sixteen hours."

Illyan snorted quietly, "You should know better to say crap like that... I'll be ready to give you a massage when the chaos ends, you'll probably need it."

I didn't bother to disagree with her on either account.

In the end, we reached the 'core level' of our enclave and went out separate ways after agreeing to meet for dinner by the end of third shift. Nothing irritating happened until I'd managed to reach our makeshift command center, a former casino whose owner had been killed in the fighting. It was still undergoing renovations, but it was large enough and centrally located... even if there was still a fifteen foot tall picture of naked Asari playing cards on the exterior.

The current guard, one of the three surviving members of Dietrich's old power armor unit, brought his suit's arm up in salute as I nodded to him, his voice emerging from its speakers as I made to pass.

"Executive T'Laria is looking for you sir." The young Batarian informed me politely, "She didn't say what for though."

I sighed. "Thanks. When is that stupid wall going to get repainted?"

There was a deep chuckle, "I think tomorrow sir, they're still working on cleaning up the upper floors enough for the officers to start moving in."

Grunting, I gave him a politely thankful nod, and then headed on inside. What had once been the reception area now did double-duty as the interior guard post, with several guards glancing up at me before relaxing as I nodded to them. If nothing else, the opulent artwork and assorted other gilded trash had already been torn out of this particular room, leaving a simple receptionist's desk covered by the guard stations set into either wall.

"Commander." Said receptionist dipped his head politely, the Turian's mandibles flickering, "Executive-"

"T'Laria is looking for me, I know." I jerked my helmet's chin towards the main doors, "She in the main room?"

"I believe so sir." More flicking revealed his small smile, "Additionally sir, Senior Captain Ven was also hoping for some of your time. He's in the theater."

Lovely. Muttering thanks interspersed with curses at Aria, Athame, and the universe in general, I got my ass moving again even as the soldiers snickered to each other. Bypassing them, I shoved the heavy doors aside to reveal what had once been the casino floor, and what would eventually become the heart of our operations on Omega.

But for now... it was mostly a mess.

The sound of construction promptly assaulted me, men, women, and mechs bustling around as they tore apart gaming systems and rewired interfaces. Former card pits were being turned into command stations with recessed holographic tables, and new walls were being thrown up around the three interior restaurants to isolate them from the main command center. Even more work was being done where the slots and other interactive games had been, with everything being torn out to make room for power armor stations.

About the only things to survive were the scattered bars, all of which were currently in service as soldiers and laborers alike took breaks.

I found Ghai rather quickly, the Asari glancing up from one of the few command areas currently online. Erana was next to her, looking as bubbly and excited as ever even though she was wearing the same dark blue and silver uniform as the Matron beside her.

"Gone?" My mind healer rasped as I moved down the few steps to their level, my hands reaching up to yank my helmet off.

"On their way." I confirmed, "I'm expecting a furious message from either Aethyta or Liara about the time we leave."

Blue lips twitched a little, "Probably. Time?"

"Unfortunately." I sighed, "Ven is also looking for me, I don't know about what though."

Erana promptly piped up, "A few exiled Highborn are trying to claim those shops across the street, they're butting heads with the people who are already fixing them up. He thought you could use your position to calm things down."

I grimaced. Once we'd settled on where our headquarters would be, all of the real estate around it had suddenly become worth quite a bit. Everyone with any business sense wanted to be near where the senior officers, and their money, would be living. "That was that lowborn family, right? They're fixing up that marketplace."

"And Matron Yeva and her bondmate," She nodded before her cheeks colored, "With their... um, bar and... brothel."

Yeah... that was going to be a fun meeting. I turned to Ghai, "Please tell me this is more interesting than that's going to be."

She gave me a wan smile, "Recruitment. Assignments. Allies."

I could only sigh and lean on the table, "Go."

Ghai nodded to Erana, who quickly picked up a tablet that had been sitting on the table, "Um... oh, here we go. We had... well, a lot of applicants coming in, and we're still trying to vet them all. Elder is helping with that, but keeps reminding us its services aren't being offered indefinitely. And it still won't respond to anyone who isn't an Asari so that's slowing us down a little."

"Never thought an AI could be racist." I muttered, "Just do what you can and ignore its bitching. Details on the rest?"

"We have five-hundred and thirty two Asari approved so far," She resumed reading, "Most of them are from Illium, Neshitu, and Millarium, and we have several thousand more to process. Miss Shaaryak says the documentary is beginning public broadcast next week, and that might drive recruitment up further, particularly amongst younger maidens.

I fought not to flinch at the reference to that particular show. And the person who had made it for us. And... everything to do with her right now. From the way Ghai seemed to sigh, I didn't do a good job, and I quickly shook myself, "Right... Redcliffe?"

The young Maiden bit her lip, "Um... a little over eight hundred approved, looks like mostly Human and Krogan."

I blinked, then glanced at Ghai, "Krogan?"

One of shoulder's rolled, "Followers of Okeer. Zaen. Like Chek."

Meaning they thought I was legend for killing their Emperor, and that I had the potential to lead them to epic fights of their own. "All right... anywhere else?"

Erana shrugged in turn, "About four hundred from Omega, nearly all Batarian, with a lot more waiting to be vetted. Oh, and fifty more retired officers from the Lady's army including two Majors, but next to no general applicants from the Xenthan Empire."

"That's Ayle's zone anyway," I grunted, "And Voya probably hasn't even had her meetings with the Elders. Is our formation plan still on track?"

"Yes sir." She nodded, "Captain Thui says she can more than fill out her first regiment with what we have, while Captain Vishin starts picking out officers for the second. One third of the Asari are already tagged for ship-board duty once Miss Joa returns to vet them all. Based on the current wait list, we shouldn't have any problems filling up all of our units assuming most of them pass."

"For now." Ghai rasped, "Eclipse."

"Yeah... have everyone focus hard on recruiting from Illium right now," I shook my head a little, "Sederis will tell us to cut it out and focus on the other Asari colonies sooner or later, try and get as many as you can before then."

She nodded, waving for Erana to note that down. "Agreed. Assignments, True Sons."

"Nyreen get back to you on that yet?"

Another nod. "Four days. Local."

I did some quick mental math. It was a three relay hop to Ferris Fields, with eighteen hours of FTL time in total between them. Even including however long it took to grab Jacqueline... "We _should_ be back before then, but if we aren't you've got full authority to run the operation. Make sure Nara rotates through her units to get them some experience, but remind her that those assholes like to play dirty."

"Of course." Her lips pursed a little, "Tigers."

My own twisted in irritation. The White Tigers had, once again, become a complete pain in the ass. They blamed Nyreen and I specifically for Bern's death, but since the Talons were now openly part of Aria's organization, they'd decided to shift all of the blame directly onto me. They were still too battered to really start encroaching on our territory, but it would only be a matter of time.

"No reprisals yet, just beat them down if they try and push in." I instructed, "I don't care what Elissa says. How long until we can seal the zone?"

"Few weeks." She reached out and flicked a few controls on the table, bringing up a map of our area. Essentially we controlled a large 'block' of Doru district, about two kilometers long by a quarter of that wide. The entire thing was nestled up against the exterior of the station, giving us access to two trading docks we could tithe in addition to the larger complex we'd appropriated for our fleet's usage.

In regards to security... The lower two levels were easier to cut off from everything else, at least in terms of the main streets. We'd simply raised the emergency bulkheads where appropriate and told the locals to deal with the fact that they'd have to travel up to the 'surface' level to move across into the rest of the station.

Said surface level was the bigger issue, since it utterly lacked the neat organized streets of Fumi... or even the casual organization of Afterlife's attendant district. This was chaos, pure and simple, with curving streets and oddly located buildings make it a massive pain to even tell where our 'territory' officially ended and began.

And the towering buildings that coated this area of the core made it damn near impossible to track incoming aircars.

"Do what you can about setting up a patrol pattern." I exhaled, "Shit, we're going to have to order gunships or something, aren't we?"

Ghai grimaced but nodded. "Few units."

"Add those to the inventory list you're sending to Nynsi for the next shipment. Athame knows how much those are going to fucking cost..." Reaching up, I rubbed my face furiously, "No, no budget crap today, we can do that when I get back and when Ven has a better idea on this area's economics. What was next?"

"Allies." The word came as a tired sigh. "Aria, Eclipse, coordination."

It was a fight not to groan along with her. "If Aria bothers you about the True Sons thing while I'm gone, go through Nyreen to try and get her to back off. If she wants information, give her whatever you think appropriate."

"Obvious." Ghai shook her head, "Not suicidal. Sederis?"

That was a more complicated issue given our corporation's relationship with her Eclipse. And our relationship with Jona Sederis in general. We were definite allies, but we also had to be sure that she didn't start to think of us as subordinates. Well, more than she already did.

"I don't know." I admitted after a few moments, "Our usual plan I guess, try not to attract her attention, if she tries to get you to do something make it clear that we're all extremely busy."

Her expression made her thought of that plan quite clear. "Presses?"

"Well if its personal that's all on you." I pointed out, "Your fault for bonding with her daughter. If its professional, tell her when you expect me to be back and tell her to wait."

Blue lips twisted unhappily, "Ass."

Erana giggled before quickly stifling the sound, her tall body shuddering as she suddenly became engrossed in the text on her screen. I smiled a little at her, then flicked my eyes back to Ghai, "You'll be fine, and remember Elissa and her team are subcontracted to us. Anyone tries to start up crap, go ahead and let her go to town. And if she comes up with a suicide mission for that asshole of a Salarian..."

Ghai snorted, "Approve it. Ven, get."

I lifted an eyebrow, "Giving me orders? I though I ran all this."

There was a genuine grin for a moment, even as she forced a full sentence out. "Only in your head, Cie. Go get your shit done."

Drawing myself up properly, I gave her a thoroughly mocking salute that sent Erana tittering again, then turned and got moving. It didn't take me long to make my way up to the second floor, following the sounds of raised voices towards one of the place's four theaters.

Shoving the doors open, I wasted little time in glaring at everyone present as they turned to look in my direction. Nearly all of the chairs and small tables had been tossed aside, with just enough kept in a central area to create a conference table. Seated there was my subordinate and his guests, and poor Ven looked like he was at the end of a pier and contemplating throwing himself into the water. A trio of Batarian males standing in Highborn stances on his right, pointedly ignoring the chairs before them. Seated on his left was an older Batarian couple visibly fighting not to cringe at the sight of so many societal superiority, along with two dusky Asari Matrons who looked ready to leap over the conference table to murder the men opposite.

"Executive Kean." Ven quickly rose from his chair and bowed his head, "Thank you for coming."

"Captain." I replied politely, bowing my head to him in return. Ignoring the Highborn who'd begun to fall over themselves to respond equally formally, I turned to the lowborn and Asari and recognized them first. The insult didn't go ignored by anyone present, nor my positioning when I moved to stand opposite of Ven rather than joining him... keeping the Highborn on my left, and the Lowborn and aliens on my right as I remained standing.

"I could hear the screaming from down the hall." I elected to continue in Thessian rather than either of Khar'shan's tongues. "Now, my understanding is that you three gentlemen are claiming the buildings across the street from this complex."

"Honored Reyja'krem," The eldest spoke up promptly, bowing his head politely though not deferentially, "I want to say that it is a-"

"Yes or no will do." I interrupted.

His mouth shut, his dark eyes blinking before he let out a whistling exhalation. "Yes. We own those structures, and returned after the fighting to find these four declaring our property to be theirs."

"That's a lie." One of the matrons hissed, her dress rippling as she rose and slammed her hands onto the table, " _We_ have owned that bar for nearly five decades, you aren't even-"

I flicked one of my better glares at her, and she abruptly went silent. Her throat worked as she swallowed, slowly sitting as I waved a hand towards her chair. "I dislike shouting at these kinds of events, calm yourselves."

A blue nose flared as she exhaled, but she jerked her chin into a nod.

"Thank you." I turned to the lowborn couple, "You say the same, that those structures are yours?"

The male nodded cautiously, "Yes, lord. We bought it from a Salarian merchant three years-"

"Rented from one of our agents." One of the Highborn interrupted, his voice scathing. "For a short term contact that you... that you..."

His voice trailed off as his dark eyes widened, everyone staring as I casually drew my massive hand-cannon and set it on the table. All of our guests tightened up, while Ven visibly shifted a little, clearly having no idea where I was going with this.

"Anyone else want to interrupt someone?" I asked. Shockingly, no one did, and I nodded slightly before speaking, "All right. Can any of you three provide documentation that Aria would accept as proof of ownership? One word answer please."

Silence, small twitches to the lip of the one who'd interrupted the old lowborn.

"I thought so." My eyes half closed as I exhaled, "If my memory serves me, there are still numerous open floors in the tower half a block away if you want to establish businesses, you may do so there."

The interrupter moved to talk again, only for the center-more man to grab his arm and hiss at him, his lower eyes focused on where my hand was still on my weapon. "We understand, Reyja'krem. Our apologies, we thought you to be a traditionalist as Matriarch Shaaryak is."

Meaning that they'd assumed that I would naturally side with members of the higher caste as a matter of course, regardless of any actual proof one way or the other.

"In regards to Batarian culture, I would consider myself a traditionalist." I replied calmly, "I hardly assume that you are, as no true highborn would attempt to force others out of their homes for a mere profit. Get out."

None of them looked happy, and two of them made sure to show that they were insulted in their posture as they departed. I kept my weapon in hand until they'd gone, the guards outside the room closing the door behind them.

"My lord... I don't..."

"Don't call me that." I sighed as I holstered the pistol, shaking my head as I pulled a chair out and collapsed into it. "It's your place, I wasn't about to let them just steal it and it was pretty damned obvious that this was a land grab. Yeva... I don't mind you defending yourself, but don't scream while you do it."

One of the Matron's blinked, clearly surprised that I knew her name. "I... suppose I let my anger lure me into the deeps."

"It's fine, just no shouting next time." I waved a hand vaguely as tiredness washed over me. Athame's ass but I hated having to switch over to asshole-highborn mode. "I'd like to try and keep things at least slightly civilized."

"Civilized?" Her lips twitched, "On Omega? That is a lofty goal, Commander."

"I believe his goal is to create a simulacrum of Nos Astra." Ven spoke up, giving me a thankful bow when I glanced his way. "It is a workable objective, if we can keep this enclave well protected and policed."

"An Illium Minor upon this rock?" She looked intrigued at that notion, "I will believe it when the wave reaches the shore, but I do like the concept."

"Same." I admitted, "But figure its worth a try. You four can go home, make sure to let us know when your places are open. Wait, Ven? Have some guards watch their places to make sure those assholes don't try anything."

"I don't know if we have any of our own people to spare sir." The midcaste replied cautiously even as the lowborn flushed in surprise and the Asari exchanged an enigmatic look with one another, "I could ask Captain Themes if she has some people available."

"Do it, and copy me on the message so she knows I'm the one behind the request."

"Reyja'krem..." The lowborn male managed to get the word out, "Sir, that is..."

"I said I'm a traditionalist, didn't I?" I asked when his voice trailed off again. "You're in my zone, you'll be paying tithes, that means you're under my protection."

"I... did not expect..." The man's head dipped until his chin touched his neck, "I..."

His wife sighed through her teeth, "We expected to lose our home and business, Reyja'krem. Instead we leave with both and protection against those high-class fools. We are in your debt."

I snorted, "No you aren't."

Yeva's bondmate gave me an almost sly grin, "You know how much Eclipse guards cost for a mere shift, Commander? How long do you intend for them to remain?"

"Until..." I frowned, then glanced at my subordinate, "How long do we have Elissa again?"

"Captain Themes and the Eclipse detachment are subcontracted through next month." He supplied promptly. "After which I can ensure that our command post's guard also supervise their buildings if it remains an issue."

"As I said," The wife spoke again, "We owe you, Reyja'krem."

"Athame's fucking..." I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration, "Fine, you carry chehala?"

All four of her eyes blinked as she glanced at her husband, who nodded once. "Yes, lord."

"Don't call me lord. And you can repay me in chehala leaves. A bag per week."

More blinking as he openly gaped at me, his posture shifting to show disbelief, "That's... ten credits per week."

I lifted an eyebrow, "Yes, it is. Oh, and stop calling me lord. Or sir. And you four are still free to leave."

He looked ready to keep stammering, but his wife nudged him sharply and all but dragged him upright. From her expression this wasn't over, just on hold until they could think of something to do to 'repay me'. Yeva gave me a small grin as she and her bondmate rose in their wake, and I really could have done without her own words as she left.

"If you ever tire of your titan," She spoke over her shoulder, "I have more than a few girls who would be happy to enjoy a night with you. No payment required."

I glared at her back as she departed, turning back to see Ven closing his eyes and shaking his head. "I am sorry sir, they've been trying to steal laborers to fix up their building by promising them discounted time with their employees. I will remind them, again, to stop."

"Please do." I sighed, really not in the mood for that kind of thing, even as a joke. Not on top of my continuing issues with Illyan and the emotional turmoil from Amy that I was still suppressing. "You going to be all right for a few days?"

"Assuming more Highborn don't show up and then ignore me when I attempt to tactfully turn them away, I believe so sir."

That drew a snort from me, "Next time just ask for Ghai, she's a Reyja'krem as well, she knows how to handle morons."

He blinked both sets of his eyes in surprise, "She is? She talks so little that I didn't even realize..."

"She hates the subservient attitudes even more than I do," I warned him, "Treat her as your boss but leave the Highborn stuff off unless you want her to deck you."

Ven let out a strangled laugh before he could stop himself, his posture easing for the first time in my presence. "I will keep that in mind sir. Thank you again for the help."

* * *

 **Silver Blade Communications Log**

 _Voya'chi: And you're sure there isn't time for us to go with?_

 _Kean, C: Unfortunately. Aethyta's intel has her set to be moved in five standard days, it would take you and Shyeel seven just to get there._

 _Voya'chi: Dammit._

 _Shyeel: You sure this is the only option though Cie? We're still regretting the last time we did something like this._

 _Kean, C: Honestly I'm sure about none of this, but the alternative is letting her get dragged off to Earth as a block of Jacqueline-shaped ice, and I don't know what will happen when she gets there._

 _Shyeel: Especially since Cerberus knows we care about her?_

 _Kean, C: Especially so._

 _Voya'chi: Dammit. You can't bring any of our own ships along for added firepower?_

 _Kean, C: Reliant won't be back in time, and the rest aren't ready. Even if they were I wouldn't want them with, since our luck says we'll end up in a shooting match with Corsairs. They wouldn't think twice about going after a Blade ship, but..._

 _Voya'chi: They'll be far more hesitant to risk attacking an Eclipse vessel, especially since those stupid bosh'tet's in the Alliance keep insisting that the Corsairs don't exist. Last thing they'd want is to get involved in a full on brawl with a major Warlord._

 _Kean, C: Exactly. We'll keep you up to date._

 _Voya'chi: You'd better. I don't trust that little bitch not to fuck things up, keep a leash on her._

 _Kean, C: … I really don't need to know that you and Shyeel are into that kind of thing._

 _Voya'chi: I don't, I... We're not... you fucking keshin! I'm killing that big idiot the next time I see her. She ruined you._

 _Kean, C: We miss you too Voya._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 4: Jailbird**_

 _And a bit of Cieran acting as a leader, finding out some news about Jack, and making another decision that totally isn't going to haunt them on top of what they're already going through. Next chapter will have some more details along with their approach, and our first glimpse at how Cieran and the Blades are viewed in the Traverse compared to the Terminus. Also more screen time to the new Lancers._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Tusken1602 - Cieran would very much have to get in line after his mother and Koliva if anything happened to Alexis or Magnus.

GreaterGoodIreland - Love can lead you to make assumptions about people, as they both rather did. Illyan's been in his head, yes, but only during the act as it were, and it's rather difficult for her to pick up anything beyond surface impressions while other things are occurring. As far as Amy/Emily, she is not aware of that angle, no, though that sub-plot is anything but over at the moment.

FenrisWulfrWotanbane - She's not laying all the blame at his feet so much as she's frustrated at their unexpected situation and annoyed with herself for making assumptions she should not have. Beyond that... let's just say none of the four original Lancers are all that healthy mentally after Vengeance and Einherjar, though Illyan might hide it better than the others. Cie's swordsmanship won't ever be anything beyond adequate, direct hand-hand with his gauntlets will always be his primary close-combat plan. That, as Trena said, is just to give him more options to avoid only having the one plan available.

jesseberry23 - Turians/Humans/Quarians, some Asari. Their discussion has to do with the fact that both he and his friends are aware of his 'quirk' of adapting to the cultures around him, and none of the friends he's had save Nynsi were really into the single partner routine. It's less a beration and more them being confused as to how he's held onto that.

Septim7 - Yes. No details. :P


	8. Act 1-4: Jailbird

I don't own the Mass Effect.

 _Running a little ahead, figured I'd spoil everyone with a double-post weekend. Hopefully everyone enjoys._

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Jailbird**

 _Date:_ 02-09-2185

 _Location:_ Eclipse cruiser _Imminent Death,_ approaching Ferris Fields, Attican Traverse

* * *

"All right," I settled into the briefing room's chair, "Good news is that the old fish wasn't actually on Illium, so we managed to get all the details about Jacqueline before she gets there and realizes what we did."

Vessian twitched his mandibles, lowering his drink as he did, "I'm assuming there is also bad news?"

"There's always fucking bad news." Trena muttered from her own seat, both of her booted feet up on the table as sipped her own beverage. "Just a question of much we have to give a damn."

"Eh." My right hand rose and shifted back and forth, "Two issues. First is that the Cerberus team managed to slip away from her tracking, so she doesn't know where they took Shepard's body. Further whatever countermeasures they have are frustrating her ability to get agents in and track them, but that's mostly a problem for later."

Illyan grimaced as she spoke up for me, "Unfortunately the second problem is one we _do_ have to give a damn about... she also said that the Butcher is here."

A low, rumbling chuckle came from the Krogan at the opposite end of the table, his clawed hands almost carefully setting down a cup of tea that looked dainty against his bulk. "Excellent... We will have a glorious fight after all."

Scales' face had twisted into something nauseated, all of us ignoring Chek for the moment. "What the fuck is he doing off of Palaven?"

"Officially?" I rolled a shoulder, "He transferred to the Corsairs right before Shep's death, and his orders from AIS are to be our competition; to assure the colonial Magistrate that the Corsairs remain willing and capable of protecting their planet from pirate attacks despite the fact that Alliance has pulled their big fleets out of the Traverse."

She snorted, "Unofficially?"

"Unofficially..." Dammit, there wasn't a good way to say it, "Jacqueline killed five of the Corsairs' best undercover agents, and she also put his younger sister in traction thanks to some spectacularly bad intel from someone she _thought_ was the Shadow Broker."

"Spirits." Vessian muttered, "Who did she think they were?"

"Cerberus." I replied, "The Matriarch provided her with a bit of data that indicated they were responsible for the Normandy's destruction, along with a few agents who were involved. After that she just trusted Jacqueline be herself."

Which she had been. Whatever control that Shepard had managed to teach the young woman had evidently gone right out the window with her death, because she'd demolished a good part of a city block before she'd realized just who it was she was fighting. She'd had the good sense to surrender herself after the initial chaos, probably hoping to convince Shepard's old friend what had happened, but he evidently hadn't been in the mood to listen to excuses.

"So he's here to make sure she gets dragged off with him." Trena muttered, tapping her glass with a single finger, "Why the fuck didn't he already haul her back to the Alliance?"

"She put a lot of locals in the hospital, even if she avoided killing any of them." Illyan provided, "They're holding a localized trial for her right now, and won't let him take her until they're done. Only reason they're letting them take her at all is because the Alliance promised to add whatever punishment they come up with on top of what their own people decide."

"Hence the timing." I added, "They'll be wrapping up their court crap in a few days, which gives us a very small window to operate in. She's on the surface, they apparently don't trust the Alliance not to haul her off before they've made their decision. She's also being kept in cryo since her part in the trial is evidently over."

That drew a low sound from Chek, his eyes narrowing. "That will not be good for her health, I doubt a small colony such as this has anything like modern equipment. She will likely be sick once awoken, unable to fight, and even walking... extracting her will be difficult."

"That's why Illyan is on carry detail." Trena supplied with a nod, "Once we get her thawed out."

The only maybe of my cadre grimaced, "I'm guessing that means Cie isn't coming with?"

"Ape is definitely on distraction now." Scales confirmed, glancing at me, "I don't really care how the fuck you do it, just keep that asshole from bothering us."

I lifted an eyebrow, "You don't think he'll notice that my bodyguard is missing?"

Her lips twisted, "Course he fucking will, but Chek isn't a goddess-damned biotic and I need someone who can flash away with the bitch. Get drunk and pick a fucking fight, insult his mother, tell him you fucked Shepard senseless, I don't fucking know or care. Just keep his damned attention on you."

Great. Shaking my head, I leaned back in my chair. "Sure, why not. What are you four going to be doing, and when you making your move?"

"Probably nothing on day one, besides finding out what crap we can carefully." Trena rolled a shoulder, "And it'll be five of us, once Washana's done being on her knees for that bitch of a Captain."

Illyan snorted quietly, "Now that's a relationship I didn't expect."

I merely smile bemusedly and shook my head, "I'm guessing Heshen already threatened you about keeping her safe?"

My friend scowled, even as Chek let out another rumble, "She told her that she would skin her alive and weave her flesh into a scarf if the medic came to harm."

The only Turian present let out an amused chirping sound, "That was a rather fun conversation to listen to."

"Wasn't it?" I grinned as Trena's expression grew even more twisted, "What's wrong scales? Didn't care to meet another Asari as vulgar as you?"

"Oh fuck off." She snapped back, "We're moving onto the goddess-damned plan."

More laughter followed even as we got down to business, everyone leaning in a bit as she brought the table to life. A basic diagram of the colony's only major city, charmingly named Locus, promptly appeared. The small starport and governmental buildings were highlighted, along with the jail that was serving to contain Jacqueline along with any other criminal the place might have had.

Mostly tuning out Trena's briefing on their approach, I dragged a tablet out of my coat pocket and flicked it on. What data Aethyta had been able to provide promptly appeared, and I started to scroll through it to try and catch what parts would be relevant to my apparent part in the plan.

Magistrate Collins was evidently a former combat veteran of the First Contact War, but had grown sick of Alliance bureaucracy and their evident obsession with directing their colonies to search for Prothean relics in the wake of said war. He, along with a few thousand others, had left Eden Prime and ended up on Ferris Fields, claiming it as an independent colony and backing up that claim by booting out the pirates who'd been using it as a base.

My eyes trailed across a simple image of a large man, looked mixed race, with one cybernetic eye along with plenty of scarring around that side of his face. I almost grimaced reflexively, fighting the urge to reach up and touch my own facial scars... Vorcha work, most definitely.

Bypassing the image, and a host of other background data that I really didn't care about, I continued skimming until I found a section on his negotiating habits when it came to bringing in other PMC's.

"What did you find?" Illyan asked, leaning over my shoulder when she noticed my brow furrowing slightly.

"Likes to handle negotiations in private, over food... took a Thessian as a bondmate ten years back and picked up the habit from her." I replied as I kept reading, "Very private when it comes to meetings though, just the senior leaders... hates hangers-on and people who try to drag things out, to the point where he's got a minimal staff and apparently overworks himself to his lover's annoyance. Huh, that could work for us."

Trena grunted loudly enough for me to glance up at her, "You think we shift the operation to tonight? Get him to have you and the Butcher for dinner on your arrival day, then we get Jacqueline out of there?"

"I think it could work." I nodded slowly, "Athame's ass, this could work _better_. He thinks a junior officer is coming right? So me showing up instead might actually buy us some respect right away."

"Especially since you also do not tolerate social parasites." Chek mused, his cup clicking against his plate as he lifted it up to sip the tea within, "Perhaps one small change to the plan, I will remain with the Commander as his bodyguard. As you said, I am not naturally disposed to stealth."

Trena frowned, then grunted and nodded, "True enough, and that's fucking better than having you on overwatch; it'll make them less suspicious."

"And give him backup when things go wrong." Vessian nodded, "Pardon me for assuming that they will."

I snorted, "Things _always_ go wrong, we're used to it. Only issue is that our extraction might become a problem. He's not open to bribes or threats."

"Say's he's a realist though." Illyan mused, still reading over my shoulder, "And the Traverse is getting pretty dangerous with all the little fish getting out of the Terminus. So if we don't kill anyone, and you offer him restitution for the crap Jacqueline broke... that might be something."

"Only if I can also convince him that we're the better long term protection than the Corsairs." I reminded her, "Otherwise I'm just trying to bribe him, and that will probably rather annoy him."

She rolled a shoulder, "Didn't say it would be easy, just something to work with... and there's always the fact that a small place like this doesn't usual advertise their news. They shouldn't have any reason to think that we know about Jacqueline."

"True." I admitted.

Scales grunted, "And you're kind of a blunt ass yourself ape, who knows? He might like you."

I gave her a look that told her how much confidence I had in my ability to charm anyone.

"It's worth a shot ape," Trena nodded in what she probably thought to be an encouraging fashion, "You handle that crap and make sure that crazed fucking Alliance ass doesn't leave your little get together. We'll get Jacqueline and get her ass back to the shuttle. We all head up to the ship when your shit is done, they ask about her, we tell 'em to fuck off."

I eyed for a bit longer, then sighed and nodded. "Right, first backup plan?"

As usual we spent about four times as long throwing a set of emergency plans together, eventually calling Captain Heshen in to go over them with us. The caustic Matron was less than thrilled, as always, but caved when I reminded her that the sooner we got this crap done, the sooner we'd be out of her waters. Of course Trena and Illyan snickering at the massive hickey on her neck probably hadn't helped her mood, nor their outright laughter when a blushing Washana had arrived with matching marks on both sides of her own.

After that it was time to get suited up in our formal armor, complete with the usual coats. Nynsi had, somewhat reluctantly I thought, agreed to acquire the expensive pieces of clothing for all of the new Lancers, turning it into part of the commando's formal uniform rather than simply a marker of being a veteran. Chek's was more of a cape than a coat, but he seemed to approve all the same, while Vessian somehow managed to make his into a fashion statement.

Once we were armed and armored, we all piled into our shuttle while the good Captain brought her ship into a stable orbit, launching out a few probes that revealed an unidentified warship lingering on the planet's far side. It had taken the Eclipse crew about five seconds to identify it as a _Cairo_ class light cruiser, the Corsair's mainstay warship. Theoretically she wouldn't be a match for the much larger _Imminent Death,_ but Heshen made sure to broadcast declarations of who she was, and who she worked for, all the same.

While she did that, we were already diving through the colony's upper atmosphere, the Captain's voice echoing in our helmets as we enjoyed the ride. " _Comparing sensor data to our records say that's probably the Vladivostok, veteran of a couple of major engagements against Hegemony ships masquerading as pirates. Captain's supposed to have a quad that drags on the ground while he walks."_

I shook my head at that mental image, "They staying on the other side from you?"

 _"So far. We got a text only reply, saying they know we're just your damned ride, and that they won't start shit if we don't."_ She exhaled heavily, " _I'm keeping satellites out to track them all the fucking same, and my sensor net is staying active in case any of those stealth frigates are around."_

"Good thinking." I nodded to myself, "If you think its time to abort, just start screaming for plan three and we'll get our asses to the shuttle."

 _"No shit. And tell that clanless bitch to take care of my maiden."_

"Fuck off." Trena growled back at her, "She'll be fine."

 _"Better be._ " The Captain threatened, " _Death out."_

"Blades out." I replied as the line cut. I gave it a moment to make sure before snorting, "Seriously scales? Still managing to keep your parentage quiet?"

"Fucking always ape. Hey Vessian! How long till we land?"

"Just a few minutes, they don't mind us hot-dropping in!" The Turian called back from the pilot's seat, more or less proving his worth regardless of his actual combat skill. Having someone who could fly a shuttle was never a bad thing to have on a team after all, "We'll have a basic welcoming committee, traffic control sounded bored. Pretty sure they still don't know the Commander's with!"

Well, at least this might prove to be amusing then. Illyan apparently agreed, as did Chek, because both began to chuckle as they checked over their matching Spitfires. They'd already made sure the mine launchers had nothing but overloads equipped, and had promised that they would only use the machine gun half of the weapons to deplete barriers and provide suppressing fire.

For her part, Trena sheathed her short blade with a quick motion before pulling out her own custom hand-cannon. Hers had started life as an Acolyte about thirty years back, and like me with mine, she constantly tinkered with the thing to make sure it was as lethal as a pistol could possibly be. Beside her was Washana, the bubbly medic humming as her hands went through her various pouches and packets, making sure that she had everything.

She noticed my attention, glancing up and giving me a grin that set her red markings curling, "Good to be with you again sir, training recruits on Illium was getting pretty old."

I snorted, "You'd rather get shot at?"

"Well, no." She admitted, "But there were definitely days where I thought about shooting a few of my trainees."

Illyan glanced at her, "They that bad?"

"I think some of them just applied for the medical detachments to play nurse," Washana shook her head, "Getting them to think with their heads instead of their azures was a massive pain."

"You should have shot a few of them." Chek advised with a somber nod, "Make sure they knew to listen."

The Maiden gave him a somewhat sheepish grin, "I did throw one of them out a window with my biotics, and then I got to show the rest of them how to bind a broken leg."

I couldn't help but snicker at that, along with everyone else, Chek reaching over to pound the young woman on the shoulder as he guffawed. Washana let out a huff of air at the impact, but smiled gamely and shook her head as we formally welcomed her back to the unit.

It didn't take much longer before the shuttle's engines shifted pitch as its eezo core adjusted, making sure we weren't crushed against our seats or flung about as Vessian all but slammed us to a halt midair.

"Welcome to Ferris Fields." The Turian chirped as he brought us down to a landing, "Home to people who liked to pretend the rest of the galaxy doesn't exist, with absolutely nothing else to recommend visiting. Be sure to tip your pilot, and keep an eye out for frozen women on the tour."

Chek huffed out a breath, turning to glare at Trena as she pulled her helmet on, "Do you regret telling him to show more personality yet?"

"This is coming from the Krogan who prefers _tea_ to alcohol." Vessian sniped back as he started shutting the vehicle down, "Oh, welcoming committee is approaching. Looks like some official plus two guards, all human males."

"Keep shutting this crate down." Scales replied as the rest of us stood, pulling our own headgear on. "Chek, Washana, you're up front with me, first asses off. Illyan, Ape, you two follow when I signal, might as well go all fucking melodramatic on them."

Shaking my head bemusedly, I nodded and moved to stand aside, Illyan throwing her heavy weapon over her shoulder before reaching out to grab her only other weapon from where it was magnetically attached to the bulkhead. Patriarch's biotic warhammer came free as she hefted it in both hands, bouncing it once off her armored palms.

"Hey, she said melodramatic." She reminded me as she moved close enough for me to lean against her side, shifting the awkward weapon to plant its end on the deck.

"She did." I allowed, still grinning as I watched Trena open the exterior hatch.

It swung open with a hiss, her lithe body hopping out as soon as she was sure she wouldn't smash her head into the metal. Washana followed after a moment, her new coat flickering around her as she did, while Chek patiently waited for the door to finish moving before lumbering after the two Asari.

"Welcome to Ferris Fields." An extremely bored voice promptly carried into the shuttle as the engines finished winding down, letting me hear the armored footfalls slow to a halt. "I'm assuming you're the diplomat's escort?"

Trena let out a dismissive snort, "We don't have fucking diplomats, but yeah, we're the escort detail. Where's the Magistrate?"

There was a startled pause at the unexpected response, then the stuffy idiot gathered himself, "The Magistrate has better things to do than to greet some junior officer."

I didn't need the slight click that Trena sent across our radios to know that was my cue, my legs getting moving while my hands tugged a little at my coat, making sure that the charging Lancer on my armor's left breast was clearly visible.

"Call him a junior fucking officer again and we'll leave." My friend snorted as I became visible, Illyan dutifully following in my wake. "And you can fucking find another PMC to keep your asses safe."

I wasn't sure which of the three men looked the most pained at my appearance. The two guards were openly fingering their old Mattocks and exchanging glances, clearly aware of their lack of helmets and the worn nature of their armor. The official proved to be a heavyset man, his round face going through multiple variations of nausea and fear as his eyes shot between me and Illyan as her hammer's end clicked on the ground with each step.

"Executive Kean." He swallowed openly, his tanned shirt suddenly clinging to sweating skin. "We weren't expecting you."

"Obviously." I replied in Thessian, not trusting my rusty English in the slightest. "It is nearly evening locally, yes? I trust the Magistrate is willing to discuss things over a meal."

"That was his request, actually." The man managed to gather himself rather well I thought, far better than his guards at least. If it wasn't for the fact that he was sweating nervously, I would have had a hard time noticing his nerves. "Unfortunately he also requests that any guards remain behind."

I kept my helmet locked upon him as if I was considering that with the seriousness it deserved, while actually offering a mental thanks to Aethyta along with an apology for sending Liara after her. "One guard will accompany me as far as your governmental building, but will remain outside of the negotiation room."

His tongue appeared as he licked his lips, flicking his eyes to Illyan as she effortlessly hefted her melee weapon up and onto a shoulder. "I... believe that will be acceptable."

"Good, I would have been rather annoyed if this trip had ended so quickly." Another swallow was his response to that, but his expression didn't become truly alarmed until I glanced at Chek, "Lancer Raik, with me. Trena, secure the shuttle until we get back, we'll be staying on the ship instead of in a hotel."

"No shit." Trena replied before turning towards the older guard, an Indian man who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. "You, what kind of security this barn have? I want full fucking details on all the ways in and out, plus how many people you've got around so we don't shoot any stupid shit who's supposed to be here."

The soldier glanced the official, who ignored his subordinate's plight as he reluctantly beckoned for me to follow. "This way, Executive. I apologize for the lack of a vehicle, but it is not a long walk."

Walking? I narrowed my eyes a little, but nodded after a moment. In all honesty it was probably safer than getting into an aircar, since it would be rather rude to hack it just to make sure that it wasn't about to slam us into the ground. Which I would have done anyway, but at least that was one diplomatic incident avoided.

Now we just had to fret over snipers on the short walk.

Leaving Trena and the others to berate the guards, and thus make sure that none of them wanted to be near our hangar to facilitate their covert exit from the building, Chek and I followed the round human as he lead us directly out of the hangar and onto a rather calm street filled with other foot traffic.

"Welcome to Locus," Our guide managed as we turned to the left, heading in the right direction according to my mental map. "It is our largest city, with a population of nearly one hundred thousand. We have had little problems with pirates in the past, but with the shifting politics of... your home region, we have reason to be concerned."

"Logical." I allowed, glancing around with my eyes as we moved. Plenty of traffic, but all of it was human... and I found the lack of species diversity distinctly unsettling. Probably a sign that I'd gotten too used to being in the Terminus. "Always so welcoming?"

There was a grimace as his head turned around, noting the large number of people openly gaping at us as we moved. The pointing and gaping was of a different sort than on Omega, with more confusion and fear than awe and jealously... which honestly hurt a little more than I thought it would. I mean, I knew I had a reputation, but I didn't think commoners would be _afraid_ of me as a result.

"We rarely have benign visitors, outside of a few select groups." He admitted after a few awkward steps.

Chek grunted deeply, his own head openly moving as he inspected the simple colonial buildings around us. Only a few were prefabs, most actually looked locally built and rather homey. Quaint almost. "Decent little place you got here, for a youngling colony. How big is your militia?"

"I... believe that is a question that the Magistrate should answer." Translation: We know we're small, but we don't want to give away any information we don't have to in case you decide to raid us instead of protecting us. Rather paranoid of them... I approved. "He is in the large building directly ahead."

I flicked my eyes away from a young couple who'd all but pressed themselves against a small store's wall to avoid being near us, and found the simple block of a structure directly ahead. Three stories tall, with what looked like a rigged-up shield projector on its roof. Probably nothing that could protect the entire city, not like some of the big Hierarchy models, but it was likely enough to protect a small zone around the center of town.

Which probably meant that there were both fallout shelters and armories nearby... though I didn't see any obvious GTS defenses. Certainly no GARDIAN towers looming over everything, but they could have easily hidden smaller missile arrays just about anywhere. Assuming they could afford them at least... Ferris Fields was the third largest of the stringently independent human colonies, with nearly a quarter of a million people living upon it, but even basic ground to space weaponry didn't come cheap.

He lead the pair of us to the front doors, where two more guards drew themselves on our approach. They were both much younger, and in better shape, than the men at the spaceport, but if anything they looked even more nervous to see us.

"Lieutenant Thorton, bringing the Silver Blades representative." Our guide announced, "And bodyguard."

"Y-Yes sir." One of the young men managed to stammer, quickly reaching out to haul the wooden door open. He head to heave to do it, and I noted its thickness as the three of us moved past his nervous eyes.

"Armored doors." I mused aloud, glancing around at the foyer as we entered. More wood, with doors leading to offices that all had windows set at about chest height. It was a good sized building, but nothing nearly as large as a colony this size would need for even basic governance. "Hm...probably extensive underground sections where the actual politicians do their crap, doubles as a bunker for them too. Anyone trying to get to them his the neat little kill zone in here. It's rather well setup... receptionists desk is a little out of place though. Rigged with charges to kill any attacker using it for cover?"

Thorton seemed to grimace, as did the young black woman seated at said receptionist desk, her hands very slowly appearing to make it clear she wasn't touching anything. She was rather attractive in a too-young, jail-bait kind of fashion, with red and blue streaks in hair that hung to her shoulders, but the obvious fear in her eyes merely made me sigh.

"Calm down girl." Chek snorted, "We do protection, not piracy. He's admiring the thoroughness of it all."

She didn't quite look like she believed him, biting her lip before glancing up at the Lieutenant. "The Magistrate is ready with Commander Anders in his office. The... um, the Executive's... _guard_ can remain here with the Commander's people."

I lifted an eyebrow, and did another quick check around, locating the evident Corsairs in the room directly to our right. Four men and women in plain clothes that did nothing to conceal the body armor beneath, or the weapons on their belts. Further, while the locals had largely caved to Terminus fashion in terms of having long hair, the four had elected to shave all of theirs entirely away... and all of them were starting at us with various degrees of alarm.

"Heh. I'll keep them company, maybe they have some good war stories to share." The Krogan shifted his helmet to glance at me, "If I hear that cannon of yours go off, I'll assume someone did something idiotic and react appropriately."

"There won't be any need for that." Thorton quickly spoke, his voice a little panicked. "Executive, please, this way."

Tipping my head to Chek, I waved for the local to lead the way. He lead me to a small stairway set in a recessed alcove, huffing a little as he lead me up several flights of stairs. He pointedly ignored the shut door leading to the second story, instead taking me all the way up to the to the third level.

Another guard was present just on the other side of that door, another old man with dark, weathered features seated in a chair where he could easily shoot anyone stepping through. But unlike the others, he merely narrowed his eyes at me, working the cigar around in his mouth as his hands held an old Lancer across his lap.

"Executive Kean himself..." He muttered around the smoldering stick, "Shit. Least you're taking us fuckin' seriously. Go on kid, I got this."

Thorton didn't waste anymore time, all but fleeing back down the stairs as the older man stood up. His rifle proved to be on a strap around his shoulder, letting him keep one hand on the grip while his other rose to pull his cigar free.

"You here to negotiate in good faith?" The old man spoke, not quite pointing the weapon at me, his eyes watching as I slowly shifted my right hand closer to my pistol. "We've lived through some tough shit, so if this is some excuse to scope us out, the Magistrate ain't gonna take it well."

"I'm not in the pirate business, or the slaving one." I replied flatly. "I'm here to negotiate a protection contract."

His nose flared a little, "Maybe you aren't, but that Voth bitch and her cruiser aren't unknown out here. She's done shit to people like us before."

"I know." I twitched a shoulder, "But that's in the past. She answers to myself and the other Executives now."

"I'll believe that when you can prove it... but this shit's for Collins to work out. Come on."

Never once turning his back on me, he lead me down a short hallway filled with more locked doors, eventually reaching one with chipped paint indicating that this was the Magistrate's office. He didn't bother to knock, instead just thumbing a reader before backing up and nodding for me to go in.

Not turning my back on him either, I nudged the now unlocked door open with a foot, relaxing only slightly when I saw a large office with two men seated at a table inside. One was Collins, easily recognizable from the image I'd seen, while the other was evidently Commander Anders, aka, The Butcher of Torfan.

He was... oddly boring to look at.

Average height, average build, plain Latino features beneath regulation-length black hair. If it wasn't for the pure loathing in his brown eyes, I wouldn't have believed that he was even remotely dangerous or even someone I'd have looked twice at. Unlike his subordinates downstairs, he was in a proper uniform, a dark blue dress model though he hadn't bothered with medals or campaign ribbons. If nothing else it did a better job of concealing whatever armor and weaponry was hidden beneath the rich fabric.

Stepping inside, I kept up my analysis of the room, and shifted my impression from 'office' to 'well lived in quarters'. It was, in many ways, something like my own rooms on the _Reliant,_ albeit expanded to include a small dining area as well as office space, a well kept bed and couch, and a door that probably lead to a bathroom. Some tasteful Asari wave paintings covered the walls, though Collins' bondmate herself was absent.

"Executive Commander Kean." The Magistrate rose politely from his seat at his dinner table, his tone betraying a slight level of approval. "I see your corporation is taking us more seriously than I thought."

"Magistrate." I dipped my head politely to the left, recognizing him as my host, and noting the way that the Butcher's eyes narrowed at the Batarian motion. "I gave Horizon's representative the courtesy of my direct attention, it seemed only proper to do the same for your own request."

That seemed to win me a point, his lips pulling into a small smile as he nodded, "Please sit, feel free to remove your helmet. I find myself enamored with the Asari way of meeting over a meal, I hope that you do not mind."

"Of course not." I replied, reaching up to carefully remove the protection, tucking it under an arm as I approached. I made sure to keep a wary distance from Anders as I moved around him, taking the only other chair on the opposite side and settling my helmet onto the table beside me. "Though that tradition is more Thessian than merely Asari, on Illium meals are treated as social events where business is to be avoided."

"Truly?" That seemed in intrigue him for a moment, before he shook himself, "Ah, my manners. This is Commander Anders of the Alliance, here to assure me that an organization that does not officially exist can continue to protect us."

His tones made it quite clear that he was currently unhappy with said organization, something that Anders noted as well from the way his lips pressed together for a moment before he turned to me.

"Kean." His voice was low, slightly accented, but calm and civil for the moment. "A pleasure. Commander Shepard told me much about you."

"She and I never did get along." I exhaled, glancing down and finding a cooling steak along with a baked potato and mushrooms, food that I hadn't had in... a lifetime. "But we still worked quite well together on Carastes."

"Freeing many slaves from Horizon." The Magistrate surprised me as he nodded, "They were quite effusive in their praise of both the Commander and your own unit."

I blinked, then dipped my head in polite thanks even as my mind swam in circles. I'd barely sat down to start things, and he was already showing open support for me over the Corsairs... something was going on. Either the Alliance had fucked up their relationship with him somehow in the last day, or he was up to something.

About my only consolation was Ander's own expression which flicked between the two of us as his jaw worked, the soldier clearly not sure where our host was going with this either. Unless he was an incredible actor, which I was hoping he wasn't, he was as concerned as I was, though likely for different reasons.

"We merely fulfilled our contract with Warlord T'Ravt." I spoke after a few moments, electing to go with my usual blunt honesty instead of exaggerating to make us sound better. "It wasn't anything done to improve our relations with that colony."

"Of course not," He replied easily, taking up his utensils and starting on his food, "You are a soldier, in your own way, and care little for politics. Please, eat. Let us speak plainly with each other."

The Butcher glanced at me, then reluctantly picked up his own fork and knife as I did the same. Idly hoping that the food wasn't poisoned, and that Trena was already getting her part of this crap done, I started cutting at my steak as the negotiations began.

* * *

 **Silver Blade Communications Log**

 _Kithan, Idas: Did you know that Voya's brother is sleeping with Cieran's brother?_

 _Illyan: Yeah, wait, no. Sex already?_

 _Kithan, Idas: Haro has used both of his weekend passes in the last month to go to Celthani, and stayed there all weekend. Considering that his only usual guest is Magnus after the joint-training sessions, it seemed an obvious guess._

 _Illyan: Fucking awesome! Cie's going to be pissed he lost the bet, he though it would take another couple of months._

 _Kithan, Idas: … you bet on when they would sleep together?_

 _Illyan: Are you honestly surprised?_

 _Kithan, Idas: Disappointed. Why were we not included?_

 _Illyan: You were!_

 _Kithan, Idas: ...I see. How much of our money did my mate cost us?_

 _Illyan: Do you really want to know?_

 _Kithan, Idas: Yes, I need to know how many of his plates I need to remove, and how slowly I need to peel them away._

 _Illyan: ...suddenly I don't want to tell you._

 _Kithan, Idas: Would you rather I told Voya? I'm assuming that she doesn't know as both young men are still breathing._

 _Illyan: ...Five thousand._

 _Kithan, Idas: Five... I see. Thank you, now if you'll excuse me, I have someone who needs to be killed. Give Cie my regards._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 5: Jailbreak**_

 _I'm starting to have too much fun with the post chapter communications logs, hopefully everyone is enjoying them as much as I am. In terms of the actual chapter, we get some more information, we see our first look at a colony only referenced in ME2, and Cie finally meets the Butcher of Torfan. The next chapter should be rather fun._

 _First chapter of Bellatores Proxima went up publicly on the P-atreon this morning, please head over and check it out._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

MichaTheRehabLurker - They do, but rescuing her was Shepard's mission, not theirs. They were just along to destroy the Circle's slaving operations, and any association that Shep & Jack had is entirely secondary to the fact that Jack killed several of their people.

Griezz - Of _course_ it's all going to go according to plan, just like it always does.


	9. Act 1-5: Jailbreak

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Jailbreak**

 _Date:_ 02-09-2185

 _Location:_ Locus, Ferris Fields, Attican Traverse

* * *

"Now." Collins spoke as he poured himself a glass of Thessian wine, narrowing his eyes briefly when the Butcher and I both declined the bottle when offered, then relaxing as he resumed talking. "I find that I and my people are in an unfortunate position thanks to the changing politics of both Earth and Omega. Commander Anders, your people are withdrawing from the far Traverse almost entirely, and the best you can offer me is a pair of old warships."

The Butcher grimaced. "Only in the short term."

A single brown eyebrow rose, "Admiral Anderson's idea of N7 trainers has as much chance of passing Parliament as Kean does of being elected to that body."

I snorted as the Commander's expression darkened further, "Perhaps, but once the Sixth Fleet is secure in the Verge, additional AIS assets will be freed for colonial defense and anti-pirate activities."

"In eight to twelve months." The Magistrate reminded him archly, "And in the meantime, we will have limited orbital defenses, no ability to counter-attack, and only six thousand militia soldiers to defend us."

"Who are mostly combat veterans." Anders replied, "They have held off attacks before."

The skin around the colonial leader's cybernetic eye tightened, "With losses... and my generation is getting old, Commander. They want to retire, to relax, to finally gain some measure of peace. Most of my soldiers are young kids who've never even seen a Batarian before, much less fought one."

My lips pursed a little, and I cut a little more sharply at my steak than was strictly necessary. It was deliciously rare, even cold, and so far it hadn't killed me.

"I see your point." The opposition replied, his dark eyes flicking to me as he noticed my irritation. "But I don't see how what a Terminus corporation could possibly offer, especially as my superiors have made it clear that their verbal agreements with you will expire if you work with them."

That seemed to draw up more irritation from the local. "Of course. They can't be seen sullying their precious image, can they?"

The Butcher twitched his chin towards me, "Creating and selling drugs to maintain a profit is one thing, consorting with war criminals is another."

The plan said to pounce on that. My anger agreed. "That's rich, coming from _you._ Tell me, what does the Alliance even consider to be a war crime? It assuredly doesn't include gunning down unarmed prisoners... or did they not count just because they weren't human?"

Anders bristled, his voice lowering, an accent appearing around his words. "You have done worse, _pirate_. As have those you have claimed to your service... that bitch and her cruiser aren't unknown to me, nor is what she has done."

"So you're not denying that you got _promoted_ and _awarded_ for Torfan?" I sneered back, "For ordering four hundred surrendered soldiers be gunned down?"

"I did what was necessary to protect the Alliance." He snarled, "The _Reliant_ bombarded colonies for no other reason that fucking _amusement._ "

"That ones a lie." I countered, "Joa has done some crap, I'll admit, but that's in the past and she answers to me now. The Horizon rep didn't bitch about her ship being the one to protect them... or did you already withdraw all your support for the largest independent colony in the Traverse?"

"That is not germane to-"

"Commander. Executive." The Magistrate cut in, his voice decidedly calm... but his eyes remained distant, staring at one of the Asari paintings on the wall. "Please stay on _my_ colony and our specific needs and avoid attacking each other personally."

We both glowered at each other for a few more moments, but eventually Anders twitched his head into a nod, and I forced my head out of the superior lean it had fallen into.

Once he was sure that we'd shut up, our host nodded once, shook himself and returned his gaze to the table before eating a single piece of steak, "Executive, what can you provide in a reasonable time-frame?"

I narrowed my eyes a little. That was a rather open question, all things considered... and why the fuck had he just spaced out? "Define a reasonable time-frame for me."

"Say what you can provide immediately, within the next three months, and then by the end of a standard year."

Which was much more information, but why hadn't he just said that in the bloody first place? "Immediately isn't going to be much given our other contractual obligations. I could probably shake loose a few officers who could start training your people, and talk with Executive Shaaryak about potential arms deals to replace some of the... basic gear I've seen you using. In three months I could probably get a company or two on world."

"Which will do what to defend it?" Anders challenged. "When a group of pirates show up and simply bombard the colony from orbit?"

I lifted an eyebrow, "And what would your _one_ light cruiser and frigate accomplish? I'm sure they could die gloriously as they were swarmed, or maybe leave the Magistrate's people cursing your names as they rabbited."

"As they would your names when your people accepted the first bribe offered to stay out of the fight?"

I actually started to rise from my chair at that, only settling down when Collins slammed a fist on the table, silverware and plates rattling at the impact. "Not. Again."

This time I regarded the other man flatly, "Fine... in addition to the regiment, I might be able to provide one or two light warships, or otherwise setup a patrol pattern between here and Horizon. The latter is going to have priority since they established their contract first."

"Understandable." He allowed, drawing the word out. "And after a year?"

The actual negotiations started about then, as the Butcher and I both fully realized that this was what Collins seemed to be actually interested in. After a year we both had a much better idea as to what we could provide him in terms of long-term options and heavier defenses. His offers for elite N7 officers to train people was met by me offering combat veterans from Redcliffe. Routine Corsair patrols was countered with a common rotation of vessels between Horizon and Ferris Fields.

Yet through all of it the Magistrate seemed to alternate between being incredibly focused, interested, and determined to see just how far he could push us to benefit himself... and then switch to being focused on something else, something that annoyed and worried him. Something that might have involved the Asari themed paintings around his room, as his eyes kept straying to them.

The meeting continued for nearly an hour, never quite losing the aura of wrongness. In hindsight, I had to give him credit, the Magistrate had played the game well; he'd kept the Alliance asshole and myself at each others throats to the point where we'd both been furious enough to lose track of how much time we'd been wasting. Whenever we'd come close to physical blows, he'd demanded we settle down, guided us towards hard numbers, and then nonchalantly allowed us to handle the conversation.

Which had almost always resulted in him referring to me as either a pirate, a criminal, or an enabler, and I'd responded hotly with remarks about the promotions and fame he'd garnered for executing unarmed prisoners. It had only partly been me just trying to delay and draw things out inline with my part of the plan, the rest of it had been rather genuine irritation.

The pointlessness of the entire thing had hit me around the fortieth minute, along with Collins' increasingly obvious irritation about something that hadn't seemed to be either of us. Acting on pure, paranoid instinct when I heard something clatter nearby that wasn't from any us, I'd grabbed my helmet and shoved it over my head before going for my gun. Anders had done the same on reflex, only to find the Magistrate pointing tiny pistols at both of our heads while guards stormed in from the front door and out of his bathroom.

The Butcher had managed to get his helmet on before anything else had happened, and I'd nearly broken the arm of the moron who'd tried to put cuffs on my wrists, but neither of us had been so stupid as to draw our weapons just yet. As a result, the militia seemed content to keep us at a distance with their rifles aimed more or less in our direction.

Athame's ass but I fucking hated being right all the time.

Collins paced furiously, his voice frustrated as he snapped at his omni-tool, "What the fuck do you mean they aren't at the shuttle? How did you not see them leave!? I don't want excuses, I want them found!"

I could only exhale inside my helmet and try to settle in a little against the wall I was leaning against. Beside me, Anders did much the same, the Butcher keeping his hands away from his belt as our jailors nervously glanced at their boss and then at us.

Which one would I have to kill first? Probably the two with shotguns, they'd be the most dangerous at this range. Then the old man from the doorway with his Lancer, his attention seemed to be sharply focused on me, and his weapon looked slightly better cared for than some of the others. Not that that said very much... all of the weapons were at least twenty years old, if not older, and looked like they had been used hard.

"Kean!" Collins' voice snapped me from my irritated musings, and I cocked my head to show him my annoyance as he growled at me. "Where is your team!?"

"Why should I tell you?" I asked, not feeling nearly as threatened as I probably should have given the situation.

"The Shadow Broker only wants you two alive." The veteran growled, "If your team surrenders peaceably, I'll allow them to leave."

The Butcher snorted dismissively, then chuckled as an explosion sounded somewhere beneath us. "No you wouldn't. Betraying men negotiating in good faith? If any word of this gets out, no one will hire on with you, even Terminus assholes. Offense intended Kean."

"Offense taken." I replied flatly, "Along with the point. And seriously, does no one besides us know that there's two Brokers right now, and that one is a complete fucking bitch?"

"Shut the fuck up about that conspiracy theory." Collins growled, "It was cute the first time, but as far as negotiating attempts go its rather pathetic."

Anders ignored him entirely, "Apparently not. How did you know about it?"

"Long story. Stories." I sighed, "Let's just say the one responsible for this is really out to fuck me over, and apparently also wants to fuck with anyone who was involved with Shepard."

He grunted, "That mess on the Citadel last month?"

"Yup."

"Damn." The Butcher all but muttered, "I thought as much, just didn't want to believe that Cerberus was capable of doing something right. And now _you're_ involved... shit. Ted is going to flip his shit."

The Magistrate interrupted our mutual bitching with a snarl, "I said _enough_!"

I glanced at him dismissively, not that he could see my expression through my helmet. "Seriously, what did she offer you anyway? A fleet to stop Sederis and Ayle from glassing this rock and killing everyone on it? Political blackmail to stop the Corsairs from sacking it in revenge?"

"None of your concern." He spat, "Now cease your... you're both too calm."

"Now he notices." Anders snorted, "I"m calm because the only reason this colony is still standing is because of the Corsairs, and your people know it. Selling me to the Broker? If you tried to bring your entire militia in, most of them would mutiny, so this has to be a tiny operation with limited numbers. Kean?"

"Same, though I'll admit to having a guess as to why he's doing this." When the Butcher grunted in question, I carefully lifted an arm and waved it at the art décor. "We seem to be missing an Asari. How long has the false-Broker been holding her hostage?"

Collins simply stared at us with an expression close to furious, his voice coming out cold. "Not all of us have your allies, Executive. We have to do what we can to protect those closest to us. Lieutenant, keep these two here. I'm going to take command downstairs and kill that damned Krogan."

"Sir." The same old soldier who'd greeted me at the doorway nodded, his Lancer firmly aimed at me. "We'll keep 'em real comfortable."

" _Alive_ , John." The Magistrate growled as he prowled towards the door, "And uninjured. Those were the terms. Remember them unless you want to go along with when we hand them over."

Dark lips twisted, but the Lieutenant nodded tightly as his boss departed. The seven other guards all shared quick glances with one another, none of them looking terribly happy. Or confident.

Experimentally, I moved a little to the left, flicking the fingers of my right hand in a silent question. The Butcher didn't react for a long moment, then seemed to shrug and shake his head fractionally. A 'no' on understanding Khellish sign then. I had assumed as much, but direct communication in advance of my plan would have been nice.

"So." I spoke aloud instead, turning to face the only officer present. "What do you have against us?"

"Him I got nothin' but respect for, damn shame that we have to give him over... but safety of the colony comes first. _You_ on the other hand..." An expression of pure fury and pain washed over his wrinkled face, "My daughter was on Redcliffe, pirate."

I blinked, "...so?"

His gun actually came up more properly and shook a little, "She _died_ on that hellhole you jack-ass. Fucking gunned down by your precious _blades_ , trying to defend the home and life she made for herself. You don't even fucking remember?"

I rolled my eyes, shifting my helmet to make it clear I was doing so, "It was a _war,_ why the fuck would I remember one random-assed militia soldier? Besides, you sure she even died?"

Eyes blinked, "What the shit is that supposed to mean?"

"It's the fucking Terminus." I shot back, idly hoping that this would work. "Death notices aren't exactly standard procedure, and the entire planet was silent for most of the campaign. She's probably still fucking alive. Athame's ass, you know we draw a third of our recruits from Redcliffe?"

More shaking. More fury. Shit this guy must really love his daughter, and seriously hate mercenaries. Or just me.

Either way, useable.

"She might have joined the Xenthan Branch." I mused, relying on his anger to cover how I shifted position. "More likely she's on Omega right now, in my own. What was her name? I could look her up for you... assuming she joined as an actual soldier, anyway. We don't really keep track of the prostitutes that-"

The Lancer roared, and things happened _fast._

I dove hard to my right as shots hammered at the barriers around my chest and coat, my left hand priming and throwing a grenade all in one motion. Anders was already moving as well, ducking and throwing himself forwards, both of us using the massive dining area table for cover as the rest of the guards belatedly started shooting. Thankfully they'd been far too engrossed in my smart-ass rile-him-up plan, and their own nerves added to the general inaccuracy of their shooting.

The flash-bang went off a few heartbeats after I hit the ground, my right hand yanking my pistol from my belt as I came up in a roll. Men and women yelped in surprise at the assault on their senses, and then in pain as I rose enough to start shooting.

"Keep the officer alive!" The Butcher snapped as I shot down the only two guards with shotguns, the lack of helmets making it almost pathetically easy as the heavy rounds shattered their weak personal shields, his own pistol appearing in his hands as he deftly killed a pair of his own with the rapid-firing Predator.

"I know!" I snapped back, planting my left hand on the table and vaulting over it. Wine and food were flung away as I advanced on the recovering figures, carefully aiming before killing guard number five. Flicking my fingers, I activated my war-gauntlet on my left hand, slamming that arm forwards even as guard six dropped her gun and tried to raise her hands in surrender.

The gauntlet smashed into her skull, the tech plates detonating and turning girl-next-door features into bloody confetti.

While I handled that, the Lieutenant had recovered, the old man snarling as he swung his gun in my direction again. He was so focused on me that he never seemed to see the Butcher coming, Anders hitting him in a low bull-rush. The much younger male had no issues ripping the weapon away and driving the local to the ground, lashing out with a leg to kick away a battered pistol even as it was drawn.

"How many?" Anders demanded as he loomed over the fallen soldier, his voice cold and hard.

"Fuck off." Came the gasping reply, "Going to kill me anyway."

The Commander seemed to consider that for a long moment, then nodded and pulled the trigger on his weapon. I lifted an eyebrow as the corpse slumped to one side, deactivating my melee weapon so that I could settle both hands onto my pistol.

"You aren't much like Shepard, are you?" I asked conversationally as I started moving to the door, keeping the man in my peripheral vision as he followed. My barriers were already recharging, making me scoff further at the evident maintenance of the local's weapon. The acceleration rails had to have barely been holding together to have done so little damage... the old fool had probably been lucky it hadn't blown up in his hands.

"There's two of us, and we don't have the time to tie up prisoners to insure we aren't shot in the back." Anders replied flatly, "And the approval in your voice isn't improving my mood right now. Temporary alliance given the situation?"

I grimaced. I'd be able to trust him even _less_ than Lawson and Cerberus, all things considered. But that being said, it would be a lot easier to get the fuck off this rock with their help instead of starting up a three way brawl. "Agreed, but that'll be more complicated than you think."

There was a long beat, then he seemed to growl. "Madre de dios... you paid the actual Broker to tell you where Jack was, didn't you?"

"Yup." I drawled as I carefully nudged the door open with a foot, then ducked back as tracer fire screamed in between us. "I wasn't here to negotiate anything, I was just keeping you occupied while my team went after her."

"Shit. I knew you were stalling, but I thought you were in coordination with whatever Collins was up to. I'll handle this by the way."

Stepping out of his way, I motioned for him to go on and deal with the two riflemen I'd seen, "What did you think we were stalling for?"

"Was still working on that." He admitted as he pulled a grenade of his own, a typical Alliance disc number. After a moment adjusting it, he snapped an arm around the doorway. There was a muted explosion as he abruptly blurred into motion, sprinting into the hallway.

I followed at a far more sedate pace, watching as the small man attacked two figures in old but complete armor as they reeled back from the grenade's effects. Watching him fight, even briefly, reminded me quite a bit of Shepard... he had the same fluid grace to his movement and action, his body never quite stopping as he flowed left to right, closing to a range where his sidearm easily breached their protection to end their lives.

"We knew the colony had received a few unusual shipments lately." Anders continued as I approached the bodies, speaking as if nothing unusual was going on. "My assumption was that they were GTS weapons being shipped in by your group, and that whatever you were stalling for involved their use. I was trying to work out what your long term goal was when that idiot in the bathroom made that noise."

"No sales from us that I know of," I grimaced as I passed him, taking the lead at the top of the stairs, "Probably whatever jamming equipment is stopping our ships from hearing about this... possibly a few Broker teams who will show up at the worst possible moment. I don't see anyone below, still plenty of gunfire. Why didn't he just drug us with the food?"

"He's an honorable idiot clinging to ideals even in betrayal?" The Butcher shrugged as armored boots started hitting the stairs, the two of us descending quickly, and he didn't seem bothered by my wandering thought stream. "People are morons Kean, you should know that."

"Trust me, I do." I grunted as a pistol round slapped against my helmet, another militia soldier firing from the now-open second story door as we appeared. He was rushing it in panic, yanking the trigger as quickly as he could with just one hand, and missed more than he hit me despite the short range.

My retaliatory shots didn't, the concussive round blowing out his weak shields before the oversized round from my own pistol tore his throat apart.

"Really should have hired us." I muttered as I kicked his twitching body back into the hallway. Given that it was otherwise empty, and given that our goal was escape, I didn't bother investigating further, instead simply shutting the door before resuming the trek downstairs. "Could have provided much better armor than whatever crap they're wearing is."

"Surplus FCW shit they bought twenty years ago." Anders provided, "And the colony is broke, otherwise they would have bought newer stock."

"Broke?" I all but growled, my voice all but inaudible is the fighting on the first floor abruptly picked up into something furious. I was seriously going to vent at Aethyta for not knowing that. Or about any of this in advance. At least, assuming she hadn't met Liara and Joa yet... I was annoyed, not suicidal. "Dammit. You thought they were buying crap from us... what did they waste their budget on?"

If he had a response to that, I couldn't hear it over Chek's booming laughter as we reached the ground floor. Two dead militia were laying just outside of the doorway, having evidently been using it for cover before a grenade had flushed them into the open to be gunned down. Hefting my weapon up, I risked a quick glance out into the first floor proper.

Craters in the wood paneling revealed the armored sections beneath all over the room, matching the craters blown into more than a few of the staff who'd been present and working when I'd come through earlier. Thorton's round form was missing most of his expansive stomach near the receptionist's desk, where the pretty girl sat slumped over in her chair with most of her head absent.

Collins was somewhere nearby, shouting orders and trying to get his militia to react appropriately, but it wasn't exactly going his way.

Chek was the only figure still present in the room that the Corsairs had been in, and was chuckling to himself as he firmly kept all three rooms on the right suppressed with tight bursts from his Spitfire. The doorway didn't let him use cover all that well, but he was improvising by occasionally tossing in an overload from the secondary barrel just to make sure the lightly armored defenders didn't get any ideas.

For their part, the Corsairs had scattered to the smaller fire-alcoves, having pulled helmets on, and they seemed to be having little trouble putting down their own targets with heavy bursts from Avenger rifles. A few might have been injured, but overall the fight was very much not going in the local's favor.

"About time!" One of the pirate hunters shouted, her voice annoyed as she saw us appear, "That idiot was trying to say you were captives! Extraction or annihilation?"

"Extraction!" Anders bellowed back, "The Broker is involved, we might have more company outside! Kean, can you cover us?"

I rolled a shoulder and holstered my pistol, freeing up both hands to grab two grenades from my belt. Flicking their activation keys, I hesitated for a long breath, then tossed them out ahead of us. Smoke and sparks promptly began to fly, tiny jammers throwing off as much electronic garbage and white-noise as they could to fuck up more advanced sensors even as the smoke obscured basic line of sight.

The Butcher and I casually jogged out as the smokescreen bellowed into existence, sticking close to the wall on our side even as the incoming fire became confused and sporadic as more orders were shouted, and then shouted again when Collins' subordinates proved to have no desire to rush after us. I pulled yet another grenade out as we moved, setting this one to its longest timer before negligently tossing it over my shoulder as the Corsairs and Chek joined our general exodus.

"How many fucking grenades do you have?" Anders demanded as my Krogan companion slammed the doors open with his bulk. One of the guards managed a startled bleat before being all but cut in half by Chek's roaring weapon, while the Butcher executed the other by placing his pistol against the man's helmet as he moved past.

"Never enough." I replied flatly as I came out after them, ignoring the flare of light as the SIU issue napalm bomb went off behind us. The fire bloomed out at about the same time as the raid alarms began to scream across the city, "Well shit. That's going to complicate crap... we're in the main hangar, Chek, lead the way, watch for snipers."

"Of course." He chuckled as out little group got moving, all of us ignoring the screaming mass of civilians diving into their homes and businesses as armored doors and shutters closed. They were well prepared for attacks, I'd give them that much, but true to Ander's suspicions, there didn't seem to be much militia or cop activity around us.

Yet.

"It won't take him long to declare that we tried to assassinate him." I spoke aloud as we all got moving, breaking into quick sprints as we elected for speed over cover. "Then we'll have numbers to deal with."

"And the probable Broker team." Anders reminded me, then almost stumbled as he cursed, "Shit. No we won't, we'd have already seen them. They must have not known you were coming any more than Collins and I did, this entire thing was just for me and Nought. A follow-up to that crap on the Citadel."

"Probably." I agreed as we moved, already having worked that much out. The Matriarch had bought herself time by killing Shepard, but she'd realized that Korolev hadn't become the puppet she needed.

So instead she was shifting directions, using Krom as her base plan. She'd succeeded in reclaiming him and turning him into her puppet, going after the people close to Shepard, probably to forcibly indoctrinate them before staging dramatic 'rescues' that left them in ideal position to support her later. And if she got to deliver some pain onto me in the process... well, that was just warm waves over her feet.

"Whatever junior officer I sent would probably have been killed, or husked and sent after me."

"Husked?" He asked sharply.

Oh. Right, Anders wouldn't know about that like Lawson would. Dammit, I'd half-lost my head at working with an entirely human group, sub-consciously associating them with Cerberus... and _fuck_ but that was depressing. "Nevermind. Hangar up ahead, we're in section two."

The Butcher's helmet locked onto mine, but he merely grunted. As much as he probably wanted answers, he wasn't so stupid as to think that this was the time to press the issue.

"What's our game plan sir?" The sole female Corsair asked as we raced past stores, shocked and horrified expressions following us from windows in the heartbeats before armored shutters hid them from us. "And we're... working with these two?"

"For now." Her boss replied flatly, "We need to get to their shuttle and get over to the prison complex. There is likely a Broker team after our VIP, as well as Kean's Lancer team. It's going to be a mess. Our goal is to get there and secure the situation by any means necessary."

She offered a quiet curse, marking her only personal contribution to the conversation as she returned to the mission. "Is your shuttle large enough to fit everyone from the complex?"

"Doubtful." I replied. "Assuming you have more than three or four other people. We'll have to get rid of the jamming, or hope that our ships figure out what's going on and send more people down."

And hope that they hadn't decided to start shooting at each other while we were at it. At least until after we'd gotten Jacqueline... after that, things would probably fall apart once again, but that was for then.

Getting inside the hangar complex didn't take very long, the seven of us reaching the nearby building as unseen speakers began booming with some militia soldiers' voice. I slowed to listen in for all of half a sentence, grunted at the expected declaration that we'd just tried to kill the Magistrate, and resumed moving.

"Guards are down, but alive." One of the Corsairs reported as I caught up, rising from where he'd checked on the two old men who'd greeted my team on landing. They'd been tied together, and one was bleeding from a broken nose, but Trena had followed the original plan and allowed them to keep breathing.

"Leave them." I advised as I moved past, "Not a threat, and we can't have much time."

He grunted, rising and joining me as we became the last two to move in. The other Corsairs were running a quick circle around the shuttle, clearly checking for sabotage, while Chek opened the exterior hatch. He and Anders vanished inside, the Butcher heading for the front while the Krogan began scouring the interior.

In a rush as we were, we still took a good ten minutes to inspect everything and recheck the systems as the shuttle's engines hummed to life. We wouldn't have done anyone any good by blowing ourselves to pieces shortly after liftoff after all, but it turned out to be pointless paranoia. Trena and the others had evidently knocked out anyone who would have tried to sabotage our ride, which at least spared us the effort of fixing or disarming something.

Rather than bother shutting the exterior hatch, the Corsairs simply activated there magnetic boots as their boss got us off the ground, Chek and I following suit as the shuttle got moving.

"No interior gun?" The woman demanded as she hung on to one of the ceiling straps.

"Eclipse shuttle." I replied irritably, more than aware of the lack. "I'll be taking it up with them after this."

Her helmet shifted a little, but she refrained from saying anything about how I wouldn't have the chance if she had anything to say about it.

Chek rumbled with another deep laugh, "This is becoming fun, Kean, I am truly glad I joined!"

"So glad you're thrilled." I muttered, not nearly enjoying all of this as much as he was. Athame's ass, just how bad was our luck that we stumbled across a trap meant for someone else entirely?

My mental complaining lasted for barely a minute before the low-flying shuttle banked hard, nearly tossing all of us out of its open bay as Anders slewed us through the air. The prison complex came into sight below us as he did, and sure enough there was a chaotic brawl currently occurring on its grounds.

The building itself was a low, boxlike number, with a large ground floor topped off by a smaller rectangle above it. The open space next to the latter was occupied by a landing area, evidently so that the Corsairs didn't have to bother the locals when they brought prisoners in and out in more ordinary times, but the Commander seemed to be aiming to land in the courtyard surrounding the building instead.

It was more than large enough to fit us, just as it was more than large enough to accommodate the firefight stretching between the exterior walls blocking the building off from the city, and the main structure itself.

Militia soldiers were at both gates, and had improvised raised platforms with construction equipment to shoot over the walls. They were covering the advance of lithe figures in black armor, probably the Matriarch's people, who looked to be mostly stuck in cover behind crashed and burning aircars.

The reason for said destruction was the two knots of defenders. Corsairs still manned the building's defenses on the northern side, firing from secured windows and vision slits. On the other side, a garage door had opened, revealing Trena and the others laying down suppressive fire to keep the bulk of the attacking Asari away.

"Looks like our people are already working together here!" I shouted up at the cockpit, "Bring us down on the south side, there's a shuttle in that garage!"

"I see it!" The Butcher bellowed back, looping us around the building own more time before unsteadily bringing us down. He didn't have the best touch at the controls, but he wasn't an idiot, he kept the open door facing the building so that the random shots hammering at the hull didn't impact us instead.

Grimacing as we drew closer, I lowered my voice as much as I could while wishing that we'd had time to run both of the new Lancers through Khellish sign language. "Chek. Stay on the shuttle, provide cover fire... and don't trust that asshole."

The Krogan let out a deep grunt, nodding slightly. "This place have anything that can shoot us down?"

"Nothing heavy." One of the Corsairs replied as hit the ground, the four of them plus myself leaping out. "A few missile trucks that could give you issues, but if he stays low you can cover us."

"That's the plan!" The Butcher shouted back, "Now move your asses and signal me with a flare when its time!"

"Got it! Scales!" I bellowed as I got moving, my speakers cracking as my armor's VI automatically boosted the volume up, "That shuttle work!?"

"Can't fucking fit all of us!" She shouted back, already motioning for everyone to get moving, "Local fucks said none of us were going if we couldn't all fit!"

"We've got the room now!" The female Corsair on my left shouted as we kept our weapons up, scattering into a loose formation as we rushed into the building, the shuttle's engine kicking up behind us. "Sergeant! Get everyone inside to this garage, we hold it until we're good to go!"

"Ma'am!" One of the defenders inside shouted back, turning before vanishing into a doorway. I flicked my eyes to my rear camera as the shuttle lifted off, swinging around to let Chek start blasting away at the attackers.

Of course, without the shuttle's bulk in the way, we were entirely exposed to said attackers' own fire, and we all promptly got our asses into proper motion. llyan appeared from behind the evacuation shuttle, grabbing me with a strong arm and hauling me back just as rounds began to hammer at my shields.

"Thanks." I offered as I stumbled past her, nearly tripping over the gasping woman leaning against the vehicle. "Hey Jacqueline. You look like shit."

"Fuck... you." The psychotic biotic replied, her normally pale face a distinctly unhealthy hue. They'd shaved her head, and she was entirely naked on top of that. All the better to see that she'd lost a lot of weight since I'd last seen her on Kirkwall, and what looked like a mixture of blood and some kind of blue liquid was dribbling down from her nose even as she panted for air. Definitely a low-budget cryo system then, though how quickly they'd had to thaw her probably hadn't helped.

"What the fuck is this about?" Illyan asked even as she leaned around her piece of cover, firing off a heavy burst plus a pair of overloads before jerking back. "Shit started exploding before they even knew we were here."

"Matriarch." I grunted, automatically stepping forwards and catching our VIP as her knees started to go out, "Here to abduct her and the Butcher."

"Bitch." My lover growled, clearly furious that this hadn't been the smooth operation we'd wanted. "Really sick of her shit."

"Me too." I agreed, getting one of Jacqueline's arms up and over my shoulders. It was probably a sign of how shitty she felt that she didn't even protest, merely swallowing and letting me take her weight. "You going to make it?"

"I might... throw up on you." She replied, her throat working as she shuddered, tears actually appearing in her eyes. "Fucking...hell..."

I grimaced but kept a hold of her, "Keep it together, we'll be out of this shit soon enough."

Her lips pressed together, and she might have twitched her head a little, but she didn't respond besides that. Shit she really had to be feeling like crap if she wasn't even offering any insults or protestations for me holding onto her like this. Double shit since I had no idea if she'd be able to stand or move on her own if I set her down to help fight, and I didn't want to waste even a few moments picking her back up again once it was time to go.

Shifting my high-recoil hand cannon to my holster, I drew my submachine gun with my free left hand, my right firmly wrapped around the tattooed ribcage, and leaned against the shuttle to wait.

The false-Broker's forces managed only a single attempt to rush us before the Corsairs and remaining staff inside the building began to arrive. It didn't amount to much thanks to Trena throwing out two nullifiers, the Corsairs and Vessian quickly following them up with a barrage of fragmentation grenades that had driven the attacking Asari back into cover.

"That's everyone!" Someone shouted as a knot of three people burst through the door, others already piling into the large craft beside us.

"We need a flare out, Blade, can you throw it biotically?"

Scales easily caught the proffered device, glowing briefly as she hurled it out into the open. It burst into hellish light, spitting smoke as it flew through the air. After about ten meters of flight it abruptly reversed direction, one of the Asari outside managing to redirect it, but the damage was already done.

Our borrowed Eclipse shuttle roared back down, wavering a little unsteadily, but Anders managed to avoid crashing into anything.

"Fucking drunken human." Vessian flanged, all but blurring as he darted into a sprint.

"Move, move!" Trena shouted even as I hauled Jacqueline's unsteady body into motion. I managed about five steps before cursing, shoving my gun onto my belt, and then ducking into a crouch. She merely let out a groaning sound when I hauled her up into a bridal style carry, her tiny body a lot lighter than I'd figured she would be. "Cover the ape and the girl!"

I could only keep my ass moving, trying to ignore the barrier that my friend threw up on my left side as our attackers and the militia got moving to try and prevent our escape. Overloads and tracer rounds roared out from Illyan and Chek's weapons as they ignored their heat to go full auto, emptying their secondary magazines to cover our flight.

My friends and I were joined by the four Corsairs from before, along with five others, all of us piling inside as our pilot physically shoved the Butcher into the co-pilot's seat to take the main controls for himself.

Cursing as the vehicle wobbled badly as a result, I carefully moved over to one of the seats welded into the rear bulkhead and got Jacqueline settled into it. From the way her eyes were blinking and fluttering, she'd lost whatever vestiges of coherency she'd had in the hangar, and she merely mumbled something confused as I locked her harness into place.

Shaking my head a little, I rose and turned to find myself staring down the barrel of a pistol, held in the hands of a Corsair who had Trena's sword resting against her throat.

"Already?" I asked irritably, glancing around to find the situation repeated all over the jammed space, guns and knives aimed or held against vital body parts even as the shuttle's engines roared.

"Already." Anders growled from the front. Leaning a little to my left, I glanced between everyone to see him sitting motionless with Vessian's pistol against his neck, the Turian apparently flying with just one hand on the controls. "Kean, we need to talk."

"No. Shit."

* * *

 **Silver Blades Communication Log**

 _Executive Commander Ayle ul Massa,_

 _I understand the logistical needs of your units, and I am doing what I can, but the organization of the True Hegemony's logistical fleet is still a work in process. It will likely be another week before they are able to properly transport everything. If that is insufficient, you will likely have to contact either Aria or Lady T'Ravt in order to obtain the shipping you need._

 _In regards to my own units, Cieran insists that I keep both regiments on Illium for the time present, given the Matriarch's increasingly overt actions. My third regiment should be fully formed by the end of the month, at which time I will rotate my second unit and subordinate it to you as per our agreement. Until then, please cease your weekly status requests._

 _Executive Commander, Head of the Highborn House Shaaryak,_

 _Nynsi Shaaryak_

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 6: Jade**_

 _Still more or less on writing schedule. Amethyst Blade chapter for Sunday is done, Ayle's Cerberus report for Monday is also done, so here's the next AR. Next chapter will post on Sunday evening as per the regular schedule._

 _Less of a focus on the actual fighting in this one, largely due to the relative quality of the forces involved and the extraction scenario they were involved in. More evidence that T'Ravt is beginning to take a very active role in trying to shape events instead of the more subtle hand she attempted to use over the last several years, which should make things interesting moving forwards. Plus a more serious comm-log, as once and a while that's required._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	10. Act 1-6: Jade

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Jade**

 _Date:_ 02-09-2185

 _Location:_ Ferris Fields, Attican Traverse

* * *

The ludicrous stand-off only got worse once we broke atmosphere, our shuttle drifting towards deep space while the _Imminent Death_ and _Vladivostok_ shadowed us. The two warships were keeping each other at point-blank range, and both Captains were distinctly unhappy at being told to shut up and hold on while we tried to resolve shit without killing everyone.

Shockingly, that wasn't exactly a smooth operation either.

It had taken better than twenty minutes of arguing, bitching, threats, and negotiation to get to the point where everyone but Anders and I were pushed up against the bulkhead with their weapons lowered, though not put away, with one Corsair up front with Vessian to make sure he didn't try and fling us into the _Death_ 's waiting shuttle bay while the main debate was going on.

"She's a murderer." The Butcher growled once he and I were standing across from each other, his hands clenched into fists. "I'm willing to allow the rest of you to leave in light of our cooperation on planet, and despite the fact that you're personally an asshole, your corporation doesn't have any black marks on it's record yet... but _she_ is going with us to answer for what she did."

"No, she isn't." I countered, "She was setup by the Matriarch and you fucking know it. She wouldn't have even been here if it wasn't for that bitch."

"Then she should have been more intelligent," He snapped back, "And actually _checked_ her information before skipping ahead to the part where she murdered undercover agents and endangered hundreds of bystanders."

There wasn't much I could say to counter that, since it was entirely correct. She really _should_ have double-checked her information more thoroughly than she had, or at least reached out to me or any of her other old allies in the Terminus for help instead of going solo. So instead, I shifted directions, "What authority do you have to arrest her anyway?"

"She killed Alliance citizens!" He all but shouted the words, his accent growing with his anger.

I cocked my head to the right in disdain, "Did she do it in the Alliance?"

"Irrelevant." Anders' expression was hidden by his helmet, but he sounded like he was about to start foaming at the mouth. "She is beholden to Alliance law."

My arms crossed high on my chest as I went full, annoying-Highborn, even switching to that language as I glared down at him through my visor. "Since when? She isn't a citizen and she didn't kill them on an Alliance world, and if you tell me that all humans are bound to fucking Earth's rules and regulations, we might as well start shooting right now."

"Fine, call it a personal fucking act of war. Or terrorism." He spat. "Either way, Alliance citizens are _dead_ because of her, and she surrendered herself to colonial authority to accept judgment. We had an agreement with that colony that allowed us to-"

I snorted and interrupted him, "We aren't _on_ that colony, and you currently _don't_ have her in custody, and she's currently too out of it to indicate what she wants personally. She's still a member of the Silver Blades Corporation, as registered on Illium, and I know for a _fact_ that the Alliance doesn't have any extradition agreements with the Board of Directors."

Armor actually creaked a little as he clenched his fists more tightly. "Meaning what, exactly?"

"Meaning that she's technically a corporate citizen of Illium, just as I am, and thanks to the fucked up treaties between the Citadel and my home, the worst you can do is demand that I hand her over." My right shoulder rolled, "And I suppose you could take me to court in Nos Astra if I refuse."

"Goddamned lawyer pirate." One of the other Corsairs growled, his voice something close to furious. "Hiding behind fucking laws you break all the time."

Trena let out a vicious, barking laugh. "This is coming from the asshole who's part of an organization that routinely executes people without bothering to check if they fucking did shit first."

"Scales." I snapped, "You and... whoever the fuck you are, be quiet. We agreed on just this asshole and I do the talking."

My friend threw her helmet back to make her eye roll obvious, but she subsided. The Corsair's own body language made it clear that he wasn't about to obey anything I ordered, but a tight nod from the Butcher saw him keep his mouth shut.

"You still broke her out of an Alliance facility." Anders spoke once he was sure his subordinate wasn't going to speak.

"No, I broke my subordinate out of an independent colony's detention facility after determining that they had no cause to hold her." I continued bullshitting without any real sense of shame, "Or did the Alliance formally recognize that the Corsairs exist and make public treaties with deep Traverse colonies sometime in the last day?"

Silence and more fist clenching was his answer, and I sighed. "Look Butcher, you're not going to win the technicality argument here, and honestly we both know that the laws we operate under don't really matter to the situation either way, so let's just move the fuck on."

The Butcher seemed to regard me flatly, his voice coming out low when he responded, "Murder is murder, regardless of whatever legal _technicality_ you draw up to justify keeping her away from justice... but fine, we'll leave that aside for the moment. What do you think actually matters to our situation?"

Uncrossing my arms, I waved a hand at each side of the shuttle in turn. "We have two ships ready to blast the crap out of each other, and my ship is more powerful and better armored. Even _if_ you kill all of us and take over the shuttle, the _Death_ would vaporize you before you got anywhere, and would probably destroy your ship after."

There was a ragged exhale, "I see where you're going. I can either give up Jack to you, and we all walk away alive... or all of us die right here, right now."

I rolled a shoulder, "More or less."

"What exactly is stopping me from making the same threat?" He asked quietly. "If you let us take her, everyone lives, we go our separate ways. You really prepared to die for her?"

I didn't want to, now that he mentioned it... but I owed her, and I didn't want to see her executed, imprisoned, or given over to Cerberus to fuck with. "Make your choice, Commander."

It was probably a sign of just how much the asshole apparently hated me, and maybe Jacqueline, that he seemed to actually have to _think_ about the decision. Or maybe he just had that much of a loathing for pirates and murderers... we might not have been the former, but we all probably qualified as the latter.

I frowned a little in the tense silence as that thought flowed through my mental currents. It... didn't really bother me. Not nearly as much as it probably should have. But then again, it was pretty rare for me to kill someone who wasn't actively attempting to kill me in return... wasn't it? And I had legitimate reasons when I had to take that step... didn't I?

"The _Vlad_ could take them sir." The only female Corsair growled when we both remained silent for nearly a minute, me lost in memories as I checked and rechecked my justifications for the people I'd killed in cold blood, him lost in... whatever the fuck he was thinking about. "Whatever Eclipse bitch is on that ship would know she was in a fight. If we let them go, who the hell knows what they might do, how many more innocents might end up dead."

I shifted my posture to show upper-crust disdain at the woman's interruption of my thoughts, "The only thing we're doing after this is going to Omega and getting back to work. We have contracts to fulfill... and at least we won't fucking abandon them just because a few politicians don't like the fucking _optics_ of working on the same side as a Terminus PMC."

Guns snapped up as she took a step towards me, everyone but me and Anders once again pointing weapons at each other.

The Butcher let out a furious sound, "Fucking Christ but Kaya was _really_ right about how much of an ass you are. Everyone, put your weapons down."

"But sir-"

" _Weapons. Down."_ He snarled, his composure breaking, "Dying here... would be a waste, and we have no guarantee these assholes would even die with us. We'll live today, and find her tomorrow."

His subordinates shifted angrily, uncomfortably, but lowered their weapons. My own pointedly didn't, even as Anders took a step towards me.

"You fucking win, Kean, but I still have questions."

"I'm not inclined to answer them." I replied flatly, my patience having entirely expended itself. The self-righteous crap was combining with the day's stresses, and all I wanted was to have a drink and make sure that Jacqueline was all right. "Whatever. We'll dock with the _Death_ and get everyone off. You all will take an escape pod back to your own vessel, you have my word that we won't kill or harm any of you provided none of you do anything insanely stupid."

Anders' helmet remained locked on mine, and it seemed to physically pain him to mutter. "Agreed. Hank, let the Turian get us to their ship, and relay the deal to the _Vladivostok._ "

The man up front grunted, putting his weapon away and bringing his omni-tool up. Apart from the sound of his voice, the shuttle remained utterly silent as we all listened to him relay the exact words, and my friends only lowered their own weapons after he had signed off without saying anything moronic.

With that out of the way, Vessian got us moving, fluttering the thrusters to casually bring us back to our ship. His own strong voice echoed at my insistence, relaying the terms to Heshen. She was less than thrilled to be losing a lifeboat, even after I joined the channel and told her that it would be compensated for once we got back to Omega. But at least she agreed to stand by the terms, to the point where she cleared a path between the shuttle bay and the nearest evacuation craft to make sure none of her crew got any bad ideas of their own.

"Kean. You knew about the attacks on the Citadel." The Butcher spoke in the utter silence that followed. "That that bitch was behind them, who she's pretending to be, and you didn't react when I name-dropped Cerberus."

I crossed my arms again. "So?"

"...where are Liara and Nikita?"

"They haven't contacted you?" I snorted, "I'm stunned, I really am. After all, you have such a winning personality on top of arresting one of their friends and wanting her executed or put in a cell that Cerberus would steal her out of in five seconds."

He sucked in a slow breath, the sound audible through his helmet. "Are they alive?"

"Probably." I shrugged in the Asari way. "I'll tell them you said hi the next time we meet for drinks... well, before we actually drink. Don't want them to waste good alcohol when they hear the bad news of your continued survival."

A definite twitch in his right hand made his fingers curl towards his pistol before he forced them to be still. "I... would dearly love to see you brought to Geneva, to have everything you've done brought in the open so that justice can be done."

Athame's ass, what the fuck was it with these people and _justice?_ He'd fit right in with that Justicar from Beinhi... shit, maybe they were a long-distance couple. "Whatever. Did you have any other questions to bother me with?"

"No." His voice was as warm as liquid nitrogen. "The next time we meet, it will be my very great pleasure to kill you."

I merely grunted, not feeling terribly threatened. There wasn't any more discussion between either party after that point, to my general lack of surprise. We settled into the _Imminent Death's_ hangar a few minutes later, with everyone piling out in short order. Washana had to use her biotics to move a now-unconscious Jacqueline, taking her to the nearest medbay while the rest of us escorted our temporary frenemies. The Corsairs exuded sullen anger as they stomped through the Asari warship and piled into the escape pod, and Anders seemed to regret his choice not to avoid mutual death with every step he took.

His reaction to Shepard being revived by Cerberus would probably be priceless, maybe Aethyta would be calm enough by then to find a way to record it for me.

"Heshen, they're in the pod." I reported as the heavy airlock shut behind them, "Fling them out and then hit FTL as soon as they're clear."

" _No shit."_ The Captain growled back, " _And you are replacing that thing, and telling me what the fuck happened down there."_

"Let me make sure Jacqueline is fine, then you can bitch us out all you want." I promised as a low thud rang through the compartment, the status icons on the bulkhead indicating that the escape pod had just been jettisoned. A few breaths later, the entire ship shuddered as its engines flung us faster than the speed of light, probably taking us back towards the system's relay.

"Right." Trena grunted, collapsing her pistol and hanging it on her belt before yanking her headgear off. "Chek, Vessian, you guys can go relax. Illyan, you and I might as well go with them. Figure the ape should probably talk to the girl alone for now."

Illyan finished pulling her helmet off, grimacing as she glanced between us, "You sure Cie?"

"For starters." I exhaled as I fully realized that my day was far from over. "Knowing her, she's probably going to be less than thrilled about being rescued, might be better to keep the number of people she tries to punch down."

My lover snorted, nodding but still flicking her eyes up and down me just to make sure I was all right before speaking again, "All right, we'll talk with Heshen and tell her what happened for you."

Trena made a face, "Not what I meant when I said relax."

"Perks of being in command." Illyan informed her cheerfully, "You asked for the job, enjoy the consequences."

Scales muttered darkly to herself even as she turned away, her short legs stomping as Chek boomed out a laugh. Illyan grinned at her back, clapping me on the shoulder before trotting after her as the males followed in turn. I watched them go, then turned and got moving in the opposite direction.

It took me a few minutes to remember where the medical facilities were on this ship against where they would be on the _Reliant,_ and I had to double-back twice before finding where I was trying to go.

Jacqueline was the only patient present, her lips pressed together as she tersely answered Washana's questions as the young maiden checked her vitals and ran quick scans over her bare chest. I lingered near the door, leaning against the wall and taking my helmet off. Leaving it on a nearby desk, I settled in to patiently wait for her to finish the checkup. It took about ten minutes before the medic wrapped up, raising a privacy screen after pulling out a basic shirt and pants for her to get dressed in.

"She's going to be weak for a while sir." Washana reported as she strode over to me, shaking her head, "But there doesn't seem to be any long term damage. I think it would still be best for her to check in with the ship's doctor at least once before we get back, and then again with whatever professionals you have at your enclave."

I grunted, "I'll make sure she does. Thanks Washana, you can get going... wait, no one on your team was injured?"

"No sir." Her red markings shifted as she grinned, "We managed to sneak in without much of a fight, the Corsairs and Militia kept arguing about who was supposed to be watching what area, made it easy. After that we mostly just held off the attacks... I don't think they expected us at all, they were really cautious."

Made sense. "Good. You sure you want to come with, now that you're in a relationship?"

"They're transferring to the Omega detachment," One of her shoulders rolled as her cheeks darkened, "So... it won't be like I can't see Captain Heshen, unless you forbid it sir."

I snorted, "Why would I? Get going, she probably won't believe Trena or Illyan until she sees you alive."

"True." She almost giggled, giving me a very casual salute before leaving.

Washana barely done so before the privacy screen fell back into the floor, showing me Jacqueline standing awkwardly in a gray shirt and pants, her tattooed toes curling a little as she stood barefoot. Brown eyes narrowed as she saw me still standing near the door, her throat working as she swallowed.

"Cieran." She tried to keep her voice flat, but I could still hear emotion trembling beneath the surface. A lot of anger... and something more desperate.

"Jacqueline." I replied quietly, my mood rapidly diving towards serious. "You want me to start with the apology, or did you want to hit me a few times first?"

Her knuckles cracked as she brought her hands together, rolling her bald head around to loosen her neck. "Guess."

I sighed, closed my eyes, and braced myself. Bare feet lightly struck metal decking, then a fist slammed into my face. She evidently used a little of her latent power to increase the power of the hit, a probable necessity given her small size, and I stumbled back several steps with a breathy curse.

"You fucking left me there!" She actually spat before backhanding me with her other hand, adding a bruise to my other cheek. "Buried in fucking rubble!"

Hit number three was a biotic throw that was mostly held at bay by my armor's shields, but she had enough raw power to still send me back a step to hit the wall again.

"They fucking _used_ me! Drugged me so I'd been a better fucking lay! Sold me like a fucking cow when they got _bored_ of it!" Another punch hit my ear, then another slap made it ring. "Then... then..."

She hissed for a moment, then grabbed my head with both hands and stood on her toes to shove our mouths together. Her lips were fever hot, almost desperate. I smacked the back of my head on the wall in surprise as her mouth moved, then the kiss ended as abruptly as it began as she broke away and almost staggered backwards. I barely caught her thin wrists before she fell, holding her upright as she visibly hyperventilated.

"Then you... you fucking sent the queen of the girl scouts..." Her eyes squeezed shut as I blinked at her, trying to gather my wits. "You fucking sold yourself to a goddamned Spectre, just to get me back."

"You're one of us." I managed to remind her, carefully letting go only when I was sure she wasn't going to tip over. "You.. really thought we'd abandoned you on purpose?"

"Yeah." She admitted, blinking as I visibly flinched at the accusation. "Shit... it's happened before, with other groups I ran with. Maybe... should have known better I guess, but... shit."

"I'm sorry." I offered quietly, continuing on before she could speak. "Shit, Jacqueline... we fucked up. _I_ fucked up. I thought you were dead for sure, and T'Ravt told us where Krom was right after. By the time we realized that you weren't... sending Shepard was all I could think of with the timing of shit."

Jacqueline closed her eyes, "That crap apology supposed to make me forgive you?"

"No." Brown orbs snapped open again almost at once, "I'm not that fucking naïve. I owe you for that, massively. Breaking you out of a Corsair prison seemed like a good start, especially since I'm pretty sure that bitch of a Matriarch or Cerberus would have been experimenting on you the moment they could pay someone off on Earth."

There was a definite flinch as she stepped away from me, her hands finding the nearest bed. She hopped her small frame up onto it, sitting with her legs swinging freely as she swallowed. "Yeah... I figured that out after I gave myself up. Figured... dammit."

I narrowed my own eyes at her. "You figured what? That you deserved it?"

"I... don't fucking know. My thoughts are all fucked right now.." Pale hands rose and rubbed furiously at her face. "Not that I deserved crap, but Shepard... shit."

My lips pursed a little as I shook my head, lowering my voice slightly at her obvious distress. As much as I wanted to help her, I probably wasn't the best one for her to try and work things out with. "You don't have to talk about it with me if you don't want to. Voya is still around, and my new XO is a mind healer who can keep her mouth shut."

"I... shit." She managed as her hands dropped into her lap, "Yeah, maybe Voya. She might fucking understand without me actually... having to say some of this crap. She on board?"

"She's on Xentha right now." I told her, "We can get you a secure link from Omega to talk with her, or a ride if you want to go there."

"Maybe." Arms wrapped around her thin body as she hugged herself for a brief moment, then hurriedly shifted away as she realized she was showing me weakness. "Where's everyone else?"

I grimaced. "It's just me and Illyan, plus Washana and three others on board. Ayle's in the Hegemony, her branch has been hired on in the war. Her cadre-"

"I know who's all dead." She interrupted me, shaking her bald head. "I... kind of followed you guys, best I could. Where's Shyeel?"

"Xentha, with Voya." I supplied.

Teeth appeared as she bit her lip, then her small nose flared as she took in a long breath before letting it slide out. I couldn't blame her for the reaction... any reunion between the two of them was probably going to be both awkward and complicated given Jacqueline's role in getting Shyeel hooked on the drugs that had burned her nerve endings.

"All right," She managed after a few silent breaths of thought, "You said you owe me, which you really fucking do. What do you have in mind besides the whole breaking me out thing?"

"Backpay, for starters. All the time you were with Shepard through now at your old rate." I began, "A secure place to live in our enclave on Omega if you want it, or access to our base on Xentha if you'd rather go there."

"Oh yeah... you're a warlord and shit now. Heard about that." She muttered, glaring at the floor. "Rescue, cash, a place to live, letting me talk shit out with... What do you want from me?"

I sighed, old memories of working with her coming back. She _always_ thought there was an ulterior motive even behind the most benign action, and the best way to get her to do anything had always been to make it seem like you got something as well. So long as she knew what your angle was, she thought she had some measure of control over the situation.

But this wasn't an ordinary situation, and something told me that playing that game would be a mistake. "I don't want anything from you, Jacqueline. I _owe_ you. If you _want_ to rejoin us, there's a spot on the new team for you. If you _want_ to spend a few months in a drugged haze, I'll make sure you've got a safe home to sleep it off in. If you _want_ to turn yourself in... I'll strenuously fucking argue with you about it, but I won't stop you."

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me. "You... Christ, but you're still a weird fucking asshole, you know that?"

I gave her a small grin, "Yeah."

She snorted, shaking herself a little as some of her usual cocky confidence flowed back into her body. "You did save me... again... and you're still you. Kind of an ass but your word is good... so I guess I can play along for a bit. Let me see this place you've got for me, and let me talk to Voya. I'll decide what I'm doin' long term after all of that."

"Fair enough. You want to meet the new team?"

"Not like I"m doing anything else." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the floor, then at her feet. "No fucking shoes."

I rolled a shoulder in a shrug, "Should be slippers around here somewhere, maybe boots."

"Nah... you said you owed me."

My arms were burning by the time we got back to the commando lounge-slash-quarters I was sharing with everyone else, Jacqueline grinning viciously as she kept messing with her natural fucking mass. The grin faded as I dropped her the moment we were through the doorway, a yelp coming out as her ass hit the padded decking.

"Asshole!"

"You said to carry you _to_ the quarters." I reminded her, nimbly jumping over her and then dodging a kick aimed at my knee. "You didn't say to let you down easy when I got here."

"Fucker." She snapped, but there was a slight grin to her mouth.. "Still on with that exact wording crap?"

"Always." Illyan provided from where she was lounging in the bed we shared. It, and the others, were sunken into small alcoves in the curved walls, surrounding an open space filled with comfortable furniture. It was all very Asari, everything setup in a communal, almost welcoming fashion... though the fact that all of the furniture was Eclipse yellow and black rather ruined the effect in my opinion. "Hey Jacqueline."

"Hey big sexy." The human woman heaved herself to her feet beside me, "Saw the fucking vid of you with the hammer, hitting Ganar. Nice moves for someone who was barely alive."

My lover snorted, "It wasn't exactly a fun day, but we got it done. And I got a Krogan warhammer out of it."

"No shit? Aria let you keep that thing?" Eyebrows went up before she shrugged and glanced around at the others, "Well at least you've got the body to use it. Who are the rest of you?"

"Call me Vessian." Said Turian piped up from where he was sitting beside Chek at the room's only table, his eyes running slowly over his chest plate as he checked it for damage. "Always a pleasure to meet an old Blade."

"Call me fucking old again and I'll rip those twitchy things off your face." She snorted, "Good to meet you too."

There was a low, deep chuckle as Chek's massive hands carefully prepared a new cup of tea for himself, his lips pulling back to show his approval. "I do adore human females, such fire and strength in their little bodies! I am called Raik Chek, Jacqueline Nought. I look forwards to slaughtering foes together."

That earned him a few blinks as Jacqueline just kind of stared at his bulk, "...is that fucking _tea_?"

"He's a weird old fuck." Trena grunted, her petite body having claimed the room's largest couch entirely for herself. Smoke curled from her pipe as she lowered it, "Trena T'Laria, Lancer Command since the ape is busy running shit these days."

Something dark and wickedly amused flicked through her eyes as she glanced at me, "Ape?"

The fingers on my left hand twitched as I reached up to start detaching pieces of my armor, "Ignore scales, she's probably already drunk on her chehala."

"Oh fuck off." My old friend glowered at me in between puffs, "You fucking sent me to deal with that bitch of a Captain, of course I need shit to take the edge off after."

I snorted as I left Jacqueline's side, walking towards Illyan even as she dutifully hauled herself out of the alcove and to her feet, reaching up to help me get the plating off. "How pathetic is it that Heshen and I don't have any problems getting along, yet you can't stand more than three minutes around her. Jacqueline? Feel free to claim one of the beds, and we have drinks over in that cabinet."

"No private rooms?" She asked even as she headed towards said cabinet, her mirth at our banter fading a little.

"Got rid of them in the last refit, but you can raise screens around the beds." Trena provided, "Lock them from the inside too. Good thing since I really don't need to see the ape fucking Illyan from behind."

Jacqueline actually stutter stepped, almost falling on her face, and she had to throw a hand out to stay upright. "What the _shit?_ You two are... what the shit?"

I blinked at her, glanced up at Illyan as she gave me a confused shrug as she motioned for me to turn around so she could get my back-plate off. "We're together, yeah. That really that surprising?"

"Yes!" She kept staring, "What about fucking Voya? You two were inseparable! Shit, we had _bets_ on when you'd stop pretending to not be together."

"She's got Shyeel tied up and fucked senseless." Illyan provided, "But honestly she and Cie are _still_ in denial-fucking ow!"

I threw my elbow back into her gut again, twisting my head to the right to glare up at her. " _Illyan._ "

"I'm just teasing you." She rolled her eyes as I glowered, leaning down to kiss me. I pointedly turned away, then hissed as she simply grabbed my hair and used that to jerk my head back around. My resistance lasted about a heartbeat against her skilled lips, her tongue sliding into my mouth to play with my own as she let out a pleased humming sound.

I sucked in breath when she pulled away an eternity later, my skin a little flushed as she went right back to work.

Jacqueline was still starting at me, then something like a cackle emerged from her throat, "Holy crap, she fucking wears the pants, doesn't she? That's fucking hilarious."

I narrowed my eyes at her as she all but stumbled to the liquor cabinet, grabbing a bottle of whiskey for herself. "Oh shut it."

"Does make me wonder though," Illyan offered conversationally, "Who do you think runs things between Magnus and Haro?"

"Who the fuck are they?"

"The ape's half brother, and the little bitch's brother." Trena provided around more puffs of smoke. "They're apparently fucking too."

Jacqueline promptly began choking on the swig she'd just taken, and Vessian had to get up and pound her on the back to help her clear her lungs.

"Since when the fuck do you two have family?" She demanded once she could breathe, "How much shit did I miss?"

"A lot." I admitted, "Most of it isn't exactly public knowledge. Grab a bottle of rum and bring it over here, it's a long story and I'd rather not be entirely sober for all of it."

There was a few blinks, then a snort as she turned around and grabbed another bottle of booze before striding over. The next eight hours passed in an alcohol fueled haze of war stories and memories, pretty much all of it on our end. It was clear, at least to me, that she wasn't ready to talk about her time with Shepard, or what had happened before, and I wasn't about to force her.

Things didn't get complicated up until we got to our on-again/off-again involvement with Cerberus, with her reaction to that bit of news being fairly predictable. She'd all but lurched across the couch she and I had been sitting on, then started hitting me and trying to get her fingers around my throat.

"Easy there." Illyan snorted as she wrapped her arms around the small woman, hauling her back, "We got them in the end, his mother blew up most of their goddess-damned fleet."

Jacqueline blinked a few times as I checked my nose for blood, "She fucking what?"

"Ape figured they'd betray him." Trena provided, "So he paid off that ice bitch to show up with a Xenthan dreadnought at the rendezvous point. Those stupid fucks came in with most of a fleet to try and ambush them, and gave her some nice target practice."

"And then he... punished the Cerberus General responsible." Chek rumbled approvingly.

"Killed him?" The biotic asked, shrugging off Illyan with annoyed motions.

"Beat him within an inch of his fucking life." Scales snorted, "He gave his word he'd let him live before shit happened, didn't say shit about not putting him through pain first."

Jacqueline snickered at that, her approval evidently restored as she settled back with her drink. She tensed up further when we got to the part about recovering Shepard's body on Omega, and muttered darkly about not being surprised when informed of T'Soni's decision to let Cerberus try to revive her. I promised to get her contact information for her friend once we got back, which mollified her enough that she started pressing for more details about how the invasion of Omega had actually gone.

Eventually everyone but Trena and I was in bed, the pair of us cleaning up before turning in ourselves.

"You think she'll stick around?" Scales asked, glancing at the raised and locked wall that hid Jacqueline's bed.

"She'll either stay with us, or go and join T'Soni." I pursed my lips in thought, "Honestly it probably depends on how her talk with Voya goes. The pair of them were pretty close back in the day... way more than she and I were."

Trena grunted, as she accepted the now empty bottle of rum from me, setting it aside. "She seemed like you well enough ape, or that just because you've rescued her twice now?"

"Maybe." I bit my lip as I frowned, then shook my head a little. "Just don't pressure her, all right? She's earned the right to make her own decisions. She asks shit about your plans, tell her, but nothing more than that."

"I'm not a fucking idiot, I know." Her lips pursed a little as she frowned, "You think I should invite her along on the True Son hunt though? If we're back in time."

"We should be... shit, I don't know." I admitted, "Maybe don't ask, but let her know about it. If she volunteers, let her, just-"

"Make sure it's her damned decision, I hear you, stop fucking repeating yourself." Scales blew out a breath, "Shit though Cie, T'Ravt being involved in more shit like this..."

My body settled into one of the room's chairs as I sighed. "Yeah. Can't fault the bitch for ambition, or ruthless planning. Indoctrinating Shepard's people in advance of her waking up lets her replace Korolev pretty fucking easily."

"Assuming that poor bitch is free at all." Trena pointed out, "She might be _acting_ like she is, but we've got no fucking idea how loaded up with subliminal shit she might be."

I grimaced at the very real point, and dipped my head as she leaned against the wall beside her bunk. "Yeah. Guess we have to hope that Aethyta's got a good mind healer who might be able to find any crap like that... shit, she's going to have to. If Korolev is the finished version, no way she doesn't have at least a few commands in the back of her head."

"Poor bitch..." My friend repeated quietly. "And there's still the matter of the twins that Krom tried to bust out, whoever the fuck they are. And the rest of the Spectre's crew. And that bitch screwing us over any other way she can."

"With the Butcher probably eager to help now." Reaching up, I ran a hand over my face. "We'll probably be blacklisted by the Alliance before we even get the chance to apply for a mercenary license, and I doubt our application will get past committee on the Citadel. Our only legal protection will be as Illium citizens, and that's..."

She grimaced, "Not going to go very fucking far. You sure we should be sending out people where that Athame damned bitch can try and get to them?"

"We have to pay their salaries somehow." I reminded her quietly, "And we have to get ready. I'll talk with Aria when we get back, see if her mad scientists have made any progress on an indoctrination test."

Trena grunted, then wrinkled her face as she let out a massive yawn. "Right... you do that shit, I'm going to sleep. Try and keep the sex quiet, all right?"

"You never do, why should we?"

* * *

 **Silver Blades Communication Log**

 _Aethyta: You're a dead man Kean._

 _T'Soni, Liara: Please ignore her Commander._

 _Kean, Cieran: I usually do. You get my last message?_

 _T'Soni, Liara: We did... the pattern is definitely concerning._

 _Aethyta: Liara, don't change the goddess-damned-_

 _\- link broken -_

 _\- link reestablished -_

 _T'Soni, Liara: My apologies, she is still... rather emotional. Spectre Vasir tranquilized her for me._

 _Kean, Cieran: Tell her she's my new favorite Spectre, and there's a bottle of aged rum for her next time we meet._

 _T'Soni, Liara: ...returning to the matter at hand, the attempt on Commander Anders and Jack is concerning as it comes to soon after the attempt on our own lives. Once my father awakens, I will talk with her about putting protective watches in place around those who were close to Kaya in life._

 _Kean, Cieran: Logical, and smart. Williams and Vega are less of a concern to me than Anderson, the Citadel is probably that bitch's playground. Having the senior military adviser to the human councilor enthralled would be a massive boon for her, on top of the personal manipulation she could use him for against Shepard when she wakes up._

 _T'Soni, Liara: Agreed. About Jack, what do you intend to do with her?_

 _Kean, Cieran: Nothing she doesn't approve of. I owe her, for Kirkwall and... after. We're going to put her up in a penthouse on Omega until she makes her own choice about what she wants to do. Give me a secure line she can contact you at, when she's ready._

 _T'Soni, Liara: Of course. About Commander Anders, how much did you interact with him during the situation?_

 _Kean, Cieran: More than either of us was happy about. He looks forward to seeing me again so that he can kill me._

 _T'Soni, Liara: …I understand that I don't know you all that well, but is it safe to assume that you were less than polite?_

 _Kean, Cieran: Probably, but I didn't really appreciate being called a war criminal. Repeatedly._

 _T'Soni, Liara: I see. I will be in touch with updates on our hunt for T'Ravt's agents, please do the same if you notice any further action._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 7: Politics**_

 _And Jack is back, and the Butcher and Cieran really don't get along, and everyone is starting to get concerned about what Matriarch T'Ravt is up to. The next chapter will feature a minor time skip of a couple of weeks, and will carry us to the first big meeting of the Warlords on Omega in response to the Leviathan/Reaper threat._

 _One more note, I'm trying to start a trend where I take the most interesting/conversation starting review and post it to the forums with a larger response than I usually give in chapter, so please feel free to head over and participate if you like. :)_

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 ** _Review Responses:_**

MichaTheRehabLurker - They don't really like each other very much. Casually screwing with the other is pretty much going to be par for the course, especially after this.

BJ Hanssen - Oh I laughed pretty good at that review, considering the first half of this chapter was already done.

seabo76 - Glad to have you all caught up. :)


	11. Act 1-7: Politics

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Politics**

 _Date:_ 03-01-2185

 _Location:_ Afterlife Complex, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

"Well." I muttered as I entered the circular room, finding it to be far more crowded than it had been the last time Aria had summoned me to one of these events. Seventeen other lesser warlords were packed into the room, and since most of them had brought their own senior subordinates or bodyguards, the place was packed. Especially down near the cleared area where Aria would end up standing, where plenty of people were jockeying viciously for the seats at the bottom of the bowl. "This will be so much fucking fun."

"Probably." Ghai murmured as she moved to stand on my left, jerking her chin across her body. The pair of us were in full armor with coats, though our helmets were on our belts and we'd stuck with just sidearms for weaponry out of respect to our host. "There."

I glanced in that direction and grunted, staying on the uppermost level as I wandered over towards the small table she'd located. The pair of us dropped into the chairs, utterly content to ignore and be ignored by our 'equals'.

"What big fish are we expecting?" I asked as I leaned back as best I could in the uncomfortable chair.

"Sederis, Waffe, Yesh, and T'Ravt." My executive officer rasped dutifully.

I frowned a little, "No Cesssa or Tirravan?"

She shook her head and rolled a shoulder in a shrug, "War."

That drew a grunt as I exhaled. The two local weeks since we'd gotten back from Ferris Fields had proven to be... more mixed than I had thought, with a few bits of good news thrown in with the problems.

Jacqueline was doing about as well as I thought she could be. She'd had a very long vid call with Liara once we'd arrived on station, and an even longer one with Voya immediately after. She'd declined to go with on the True Son operation, and even more oddly, hadn't gone to get any of the hard drugs I knew she used to enjoy. Instead she was mostly hanging around our headquarters, sticking to just alcohol, and seemingly trying to get a feel for how things were run. She obviously hadn't committed to staying or going, but I still had hope that she'd decide to stay.

The situation we'd left behind on Ferris Fields was a bit more complex. Collins had evidently gotten caught in the napalm bomb I'd thrown over my shoulder on our way out, and had been barely clinging to life when the local citizenry had discovered his collusion with the Broker to betray us and the Corsairs. Someone had flicked off his life support as a result of the mob anger that had risen up at the news that they were now effectively defenseless against attack, and something like a minor civil war had promptly broken out in the absence of central authority.

I didn't much care either way, but the Matriarch was hard at work spreading rumors across Citadel news sources that the entire thing was my and Jacqueline's fault. Nynsi's own contacts on Illium were retaliating with Aethyta's reluctant help, blaming the mess directly on Collins. The end result was a mass of confusion, with no one really sure exactly what had happened. Which still worked in the old bitch's favor, our PMC license request had been denied by the Alliance within a day, and our similar petition to the Citadel was on indefinite hold pending 'investigations'.

Not that the Citadel one mattered as much. Technically just having the license on Illium was enough to keep us clear of C-Sec and the Council's direct interference, but our reputation would have been vastly improved if we'd had it. And we couldn't hire out to the Alliance without that one, which would obviously never happen now.

That news was merely annoying against the continuous headaches that were constantly coming up in and around our new enclave. Resistance to the more structured, and legalized, Illium fashion of doing things was proving just as fierce as I had feared... at least up until I'd entirely lost my temper last week. Two Highborn had snuck in pleasure slaves, and only been caught when one of them had tried to escape. She'd been screaming in agony in the street from her implants, and our people had gotten there in time to see her 'owner' trying to get her under cover.

I'd personally executed him and his brother right there in the street, and informed everyone present that I was out of goddess-damned patience.

Nara had followed that up next shift by dragging five drug dealers and a pimp down to what we were calling Level One, gathering everyone in sight before having all six of them shot for operating without licenses.

We'd been promptly flooded with requests for said licenses, which was an issue in itself, but the bemused disdain many of the older residents had treated us with had vanished overnight. Many had elected to emigrate as a result, but more immigrants, many of them of the lower classes and castes, were pouring up from Doru and the lowers to replace them. If anything, the numbers coming in were making Ven start to worry about potential overpopulation if they didn't slow down.

That was an issue I was willing to accept, considering the sheer amount of work still needed to be done to clean and fix everything up... and then there was getting all of our new recruits vetted and settled in, and training regimens going... and negotiating with the local dock workers in terms of fixing our old ships... and negotiating with their prissy Illium counterparts for the same... and dealing with Aethyta... and Aria... and Sederis...

"I quit." I muttered as I slumped forwards, letting my head fall to rest on the table. "You're the Warlord now. Have fun."

There was a soft snort, "Delegate more."

"How!?" I demanded, turning to rest my right cheek on the wood to gape at her. "I throw everything I can to you, Joa, Nara, Trena, _and_ Ven and I'm _still_ swamped. Fuck, two shifts ago I had to ask Jacqueline and Erana to draw up a training exercise while I dealt with the Tigers trying to break into Level Two."

She grimaced a little, then forced full phrases through her ruined throat. "We're still getting established. It will slow down soon enough."

I pursed my lips, "You sure?"

"Reasonably."

"That," I sighed, "Is not nearly as reassuring as you probably meant it."

One of her shoulders rolled as she smiled, patting me on the shoulder before pulling a tablet out of her coat and flicking it on. Exhaling, I pushed myself back into a seated position and dutifully looked at the device as she pushed it in front of me, giving me an excellent view of our current financial situation.

"Still that bad?" I asked rhetorically, shaking my head a little. "At least its still in the budget Nynsi set for us... overlay the six month projection that Ven made, the updated version."

She did so with a few quick flicks, "Promising."

"Yeah." My mouth shifted a little as I looked over the numbers. Overall the numbers were still not great, but income from taxation began trickling in to offset some things, and there were definite spikes as ships in our fleet shifted from costing us money in repairs, to providing money as they rotated to the Horizon contract. "Shit, we're still losing too much on the recruiting classes, but I don't see how we can lower their salaries. Maybe we should go with Nara's idea to shift the payment schedule, back-load it as they get closer to full service."

There was another rolling shrug as she brought up a notepad, quickly recording approval for that idea and saving it for later.

Of course, even with that... I sighed and pushed the device away. "We won't ever really be profitable, will we? Athame's ass, even when we have our full fleet we'll _barely_ be above the red line. Any major combat action would bankrupt us, even with Nynsi's support."

Ghai pressed her lips together, then shook her head. "Ships and crew."

"Yeah." And we really, really couldn't lower _their_ salaries. The last thing we wanted was a mutiny over shit wages. "What do you think of Nara and Joa's proposal?"

"Base incomplete." She exhaled softly, "Next year?"

I clicked my tongue, "No moral concerns about invading the lower levels?"

My mind healer gave me a look that told me just how stupid of a question that was. Of course she didn't have any moral qualms about expanding our territory on Omega, especially if we were going to be forcing some measure of order into place. Ghai was a big believer in the Illium Minor concept, and had no issues with the concept of growing as much as Omega would tolerate.

"Illyan?" The name came out as a question, her mind having no issues figuring out why I'd actually asked the question.

"She's... not thrilled with the idea." I admitted. Illyan was fine with concepts like retaliation and revenge, lashing out against people who hurt our own... but the idea of becoming the invading force was one that she actively rejected. Being part of a full blown PMC had been something she'd been able to handle only because she knew that my particular branch was only being hired out as protection for Traverse colonies.

That I was even considering acting like a Warlord, expending our territory by force, had put even more strain on our relationship... right after we had started to try and patch things back together into something that might have been workable. Joa lining up all of the faux-reasonable arguments as to why violent expansion wasn't such a bad thing hadn't helped much either, with Illyan not appreciating the reminder of just what kind of people we'd become.

Ghai regarded me for a long moment, then sighed and forced a longer sentence out. "You're actually going to break apart this time, aren't you?"

"Probably." I offered quietly. "She wants... well, she wants things to be simple. We have that in common. The problem is that I can't just walk away from all of this, as much as I want to just tell Aria to fuck off and to run away with her to Illium."

The Asari on my left grimaced. I'd be hunted down by either Sederis or Aria inside of a week, just to ensure control of the crap that I knew. And even if they left me alive... I'd still be abandoning everyone who now considered me their commanding officer, and I didn't think that I could do that at this point.

Maybe... maybe if I'd listened to her and bailed right after the fight, if we'd fled to Xentha, the Lady Warlord might have kept our presence quiet for a while. But... instead I'd stuck around, gotten _involved_ , and it increasingly felt like my only available options were between bad and fucking terrible if I wanted to seriously protect and nurture what I had come to think of as 'mine'.

Before we could continue the conversation, and before I could really get the pity current swirling, the first of the greater warlords arrived and drew our attention for an entirely different reason. Heinrich die Waffe, the Steel King, strode through the same doorway we'd come through, his expression irritated. He'd continued his evident weight loss program, replacing his bulk with muscle, though the black in his hair had continued to lose its battle against the silver creeping in.

His appearance, and that of the dark skinned woman acting as his own second, wasn't surprising... but the massive Quarian who came in with them very much was _._

"Huh... he look like a migrant to you?" I asked, frowning at the much more expansive suit than I was used to Voya or her kin using. "Exile maybe?"

"Maybe... odd." Ghai agreed, both of us watching them move. The man in question was studiously ignoring everyone else present, staying close to the Warlord as they descended to the lower levels. Die Waffe kicked a Turian PMC executive out of his seat with a mere glance, the three of them settling themselves in after.

Jona Sederis arrived in time with Ul Yesh less than a minute later, the latter's human wife following dutifully behind them as they likewise descended. Sederis paused about halfway down, turning her head until she found the two of us lurking in our dark corner near the top, her lips pulling into a smirk. The golden dressed Asari murmured something to the young Batarian man, then reversed direction and actually moved back up.

I could only sigh as she reached our level, not bothering to look at her until she dropped into the seat beside me.

"Cieran." She greeted me, her voice wickedly amused. "Hiding in the back again I see."

"Jona." I replied, knowing full well that her choosing to sit beside me was a declaration of support... and possession. "Eager to cause trouble for me... as usual."

"Always." The Mistress of the Eclipse purred before leaning around me slightly, "Ghai. I trust my granddaughter is well?"

"Yes." Ghai rasped, "No thanks to your daughter."

Sederis snorted, leaning back in her chair. The grin on her lips faded as Yan T'Ravt arrived, the Lady gliding down the stairs in a white dress as tasteful as Jona's was revealing. The Illium warlord didn't quite glare venom at her Xenthan counterpart, but there definitely wasn't any love lost between the two Asari.

Aria's commando bodyguards began strutting in shortly after, emerging from the various doors and taking up positions near them. The Queen herself came in when all but the main entrance had been shut and sealed, the door sliding shut with a clang that saw all conversation in the room cease. Those few people who had still been standing quickly found their chairs as Aria's heels clicked against the stairs.

"Right." Aria spoke into the absolute silence, a massive holographic display flickering to life in the air above her head as she began to pace a slow circle around the bowl. "This is the first of two planned meetings on the long term threats that we, as a collective, are facing, so let's get this crap going. Give me Ilos."

Some luckless subordinate adjusted the loading icons to show what scans we had of the former Prothean world... and the hundreds of destroyed Reapers scattered across its surface. More displays flickered to show the system as a whole, with hundreds more icons popping up to show where more AI corpses drifted in loose orbits around the sun.

"Heinrich." The Queen jerked her chin towards the man, "You've got a relevant theory on what killed them."

The Steel King nodded, rising from his seat and stepping down into the bowl, his voice a deep Germanic basso. "It is based upon the information provided by Executive Kean, Kerensky's omni-tool, and a long analyzation of the amount of firepower that the Council's fleets required to destroy Sovereign. The long version is technical and would take hours to go over the anecdotal pigshit, so the short version is that the Protheans were able to deploy a super-weapon, one specifically designed to destroy Reapers across the galaxy."

There was an uneasy stirring around the room, then a Batarian _Ha'diq_ rose. "For those of who were not given the huma... _Kean's_ information, what is this weapon?"

"It supposedly fires some kind of damaging signal via the Mass Relays, possibly tuned to specifically destroy some internal system of the Reapers." There was a human shrug from his broad shoulders, "The specifics aren't known to us, but its the results that matter. No practical war fleet, even given supposed levels of technology available to the Protheans, could have destroyed so many, and all of our other theories had fifty thousand years worth of questions behind them."

Grunting, I rose to my feet and raised my voice. "Based on what I know, that seems possible, but how do you think Sovereign survived?"

"Your own information indicates that such a super-weapon is highly unstable, and as dangerous to the user as it is to the target." Another shrug and a wave at the images above his and Aria's heads, "It likely acted only as a localized pulse and failed to transmit its signal beyond Ilos's local system. However many Reapers were left were likely sufficient to finish off any pockets of resistance that remained."

I nodded while the same _Ha'diq_ glanced at Aria before permission, then turned and faced me when she nodded. "Your information... does it indicate how many might remain, given the exact numbers of those destroyed?"

I shook my head and shifted my posture to show regret, "No, and even if it did, I wouldn't trust it. Whatever reason that bitch had for fucking with my and Krom's heads, it definitely wasn't to help us fight these things."

"Then why trust any of it?" He demanded in return, only to shrink a little when Aria spoke.

"Because we lack any other practical intelligence." The Queen informed him, "Until we find hard data that contradicts what he knows or knew, we assume it is at least partially correct."

"Yes, my Queen." The _Ha'diq_ offered, settling back into his chair, and I elected to follow suit rather than keep anyone's attention on me.

"Right." The Steel King resumed, "Since the only plans for the shit the Protheans used are probably on Ilos, and maybe Mars, they aren't available to us. We're working on seeing if we can get mechs down to the former, but the level of destruction means we've got no idea where to even start looking. In the meantime, we're stuck planning for a conventional fight. Yan?"

The Lady Warlord nodded politely and rose, joining he and Aria though she remained still rather than moving as she spoke. "With this additional intelligence, I have been able to better correlate some of my dear sister's actions over the past few centuries. I believe that a conventional victory against the Reapers may actually be possible, and would explain the Leviathan's involvement if they wish to once again dominate the galaxy."

"Ahhh." The Turian who Heinrich's group had relocated rose, his mandibles twitching. "I believe that I see. If the Council was unified, they could contain the Reapers conventionally while they built this super-weapon. Then they could easily defeat the weakened Reapers and maintain the status quo. These Leviathans want to be gods... the easiest way to rise would come if they were seen as saviors to a desperate and losing populace."

"Precisely." T'Ravt gave him a formal little bow, "It is merely theory, but I believe they fight the delicate balancing act, ensuring that we are strong enough to defeat their enemies in the end, but not so strong as to threaten them directly in the aftermath. To that end, the eldritch beings elected to suborn the most powerful of the early nations."

"If the Republics stay out of any fighting when the Reapers finally show up," Die Waffe grunted, "We're in trouble as things currently stand. That's why we're doing nothing but prepare from this point out, and expecting nothing from those pigs on the Citadel."

Aria's right heel clicked hard on the floor as she continued to circle the bowl, "I'm aware of the damage that the war has done to our infrastructure. It must be repaired, quickly. Cost will not be considered an acceptable obstacle, nor will any other that arises. The Terminus _will_ be ready for war in three years _._ "

Ul Yesh cautiously stood up, his posture shifting between nervous and commanding, though his voice was strong when he spoke. "If I may, my Queen. Where will this war occur? If these... Leviathans truly consider us a threat, we might be invaded from Council space as well as from wherever these Reapers appear. And there remains the issues of the Collectors and the Geth to consider, if they are under the Reaper's thrall."

There was an approving grunt from the Steel King. "I've got someone with a proposal for the latter. Zorah? Get it out."

I felt my mouth drop in surprise even as Ghai sucked in a breath. To my left, Sederis went still, then offered a soft curse as her eyes narrowed, tracking the absurdly tall Quarian as he rose. He remained where he was rather than descending to Aria and the other Warlords, likely a wise move, and clasped his hands behind his back in a militant pose.

"Warlords. Queen T'Loak." Tali's father had a deep, almost booming voice, but his accent was almost absurdly thick compared to the smooth Xenthan cant I was used to. "I won't waste your time with frivolity or honors. The Admiralty Board would like to propose an alliance of action, to destroy the Geth threat once and for all."

A low round of mutters went around the room at that, then vanished as Aria held a hand up. She regarded Rael'Zorah for several long breaths before speaking, "What do you offer, migrant?"

"An equal share of all Geth salvage taken, and all former colonies that lay farther from Rannoch than Haestrom." He informed her, "We would not expect action at once, given the recent war. The campaign is planned to begin in one standard year. Our primary need would be for ground troops to help secure our former worlds, while our fleet would handle the primary engagements."

I let out a soft hum, leaning back in my chair as I considered the offer. It made... a lot of sense strategically. Not only would we, well... Aria and Die Waffe mostly, gain access to more Geth technology, it could secure that region entirely well in advance of the Reaper attack. That would free up a large number of forces to engage either the Reapers or the Leviathans, depending on how crap went down.

"Kean?" Sederis asked quietly as more murmuring began, Aria stepping aside to speak quietly with T'Ravt while Zorah waited patiently. "Your thoughts?"

"Its a decent enough plan." I replied equally softly. "Even with Sovereign down, the Geth are probably a lost cause thanks to the extra time it had to fuck with them. Better to clear them out now... but the Geth are rough customers. Even with the migrant fleet, it'll be rough."

She grunted, "Agreed. Athame's azure though... that human down there is the only real Warlord with a fleet ready to fight, and I don't care what the suit-rat says, we'll need ships as well as troops and neither Heinrich or Aria have many. A year might not be enough time unless the shit with the Hegemony is wrapped up that quickly."

That drew a snort from me, "We'll have to praise Athame if that shit is done in the next _two_ years, much less one."

Blue lips twisted, "Can you free up anyone?"

"Not unless you want the Traverse open to the Collectors." I reminded her. "Shit, I'm already praying to the goddess that Khar'shan falls sooner rather than later so I can get more troops into place to fight those bugs as it is."

Far below us, Aria seemed to be doing similar math as she stepped away from T'Ravt and turned back to Zorah. "We will require eighteen Citadel months to prepare, not twelve... but Heinrich, Yan, and I will support your push, along with our subordinates."

Many of said subordinates stirred uneasily, but none were so stupid as to say anything.

Rael'Zorah seemed to consider that, then nodded almost cautiously, "Our timetable will be difficult to shift, but I will speak with the other Admirals."

Aria waved a hand dismissively. "If you want to start your campaign on your precious schedule, you may, but we won't be involved until the time I set... and we will expect our compensation regardless."

The Admiral didn't seem to be surprised by that, instead simply dipping his head and returning to his seat.

Omega's ruler stared at him for a few more breaths, then nodded as well before turning away to throw her gaze in our direction. "Jona."

There was an annoyed sigh as Sederis pushed herself to her feet, planting a hand on the table as she casually shifted to lean against it. "The Directors are screaming their pretty little heads off, but Illium will be ready. I'm draining every maiden I can out of the Republics with recruiting offers and other assorted crap, but there's already emigration laws being passed. Some shit about cutting Illium out of the Repbulics entirely and blockading the entire region is also in the works."

I couldn't stop from grimacing, sharing a concerned look with Ghai. That was news to the both of us, even if it wasn't all that surprising in hindsight.

"My vassals are still getting their blue asses in gear, too used to being fucking left alone on our side of the Terminus." She continued, "Conscription orders are going out on some of the colonies, and war economies are slowly getting setup where they aren't already. It's not going to be painless, but shit will be in place in time."

Aria grunted loudly enough for everyone to hear her, then flicked her gaze to T'Ravt. "Xentha?"

A shoulder rolled demurely, "Releasing some of the information we have on the Reapers and Leviathans has seen the end of complaints from my own vassals, and rebuilding is well underway. I should have half again as many warships as I had to fight Ganar when the time comes, and three to four times as many combat ready troops. My principle worry remains the Leviathans. Releasing the information may have quelled any muttering amongst our own people, but I do not believe they will take their... outing, lightly."

"Assuming anyone believes them." Die Waffe snorted. "Timeless spice squid controlling the Republics from the shadows? If I hadn't seen those damned orbs and the dead husks for myself, I'd have thought it the worst sort lunatic conspiracy."

I cleared my throat and rose again, "That may be true, and the Council will probably call us insane, but the Leviathans and their sock puppets will know. They'll have plans of their own that we'll have to worry about and try to counter if we want to survive the next three or four years. Spectre Shepard's death is just one example, there's also been their repeated efforts via Matriarch T'Ravt to kill or capture her former allies."

Once again muttering filled the room, and Sederis turned to narrow her eyes at me. I hadn't exactly shared that bit of news with her, or anyone else, having elected to save it for this particular meeting. Mostly to avoid having to repeat myself when the inevitable questions began, as well as the fact that I'd only gotten some additional confirmation yesterday.

"You're sure?" Jona asked, "How many attempts?"

"Two on the Citadel, another on Ferris Fields." I glanced down at the massive Quarian. "A... potential fourth attempt last week, on Haestrom."

Rael'Zorah rose once, his glowing eyes locking onto mine as his accent thickened further. "You are disturbingly well informed, Executive Commander."

I bowed my head at the compliment, mentally thanking Liara for keeping me in the loop even though her father currently refused to speak with any of us. "And your daughter and her squad are exceedingly skilled, if they brought down a Leviathan Banshee."

The compliment seemed to throw him off slightly, but he jerked his helmet in a tight nod before turning to Aria to provide some context when she flicked her cold eyes to him. "The attack did occur. It was a scouting party, sent to evaluate our chances in a direct assault, they were assaulted by similar husks to the ones the Steel King informs me preyed upon your miners."

"And it convinced you to come to Omega." The Queen deduced.

Another tight nod. "The encounter changed many minds in the Flotilla, once we correlated it against the information coming from your people. That such creatures exist now seems certain, and their influence over Citadel politics is likely... extreme. That is why we elected to request a military alliance."

Aria merely pursed her lips, grunted again, then returned her attention to me. "Kean, any other shit I should know?"

My head twitched in a quick shake, "Nothing that you aren't already aware of, unless you want a report on what we'll be doing in the Traverse." When there was the tiniest of nods, I inhaled and continued, "Ferris Fields is a lost cause, but there's four other major human colonies that will likely become Collector targets. Horizon is going to get the bulk of my attention, it has the most people and the most cash. New Canton and Nagato have agreed to accept weapons and training cadres, with combat forces later once the Hegemony crap is done with, but Freedom's Progress..."

"Told you to fuck off?" She guessed.

"They didn't put it quite that politely." I replied dryly, drawing snorts and rumbles of amusement. "As soon as my ships are in any kind of condition, I'll have rotating patrols near potential targets. The goal will be to get any actionable intelligence they can on the Collectors rather than to actually fight, we'll save that for the big targets."

"Good." The Queen replied, "I don't need you wasting ships we'll need later. Murridan, Lorvit," Two Batarian _Ha'diq_ bowed their heads to the left, "You can keep up your raids on the Salarians, but I want your people ready to reinforce the Blades if those bugs come out to fight."

Both men exchanged a quick look, then the elder of the two rose and turned to split his gaze between me and his queen. "Safe anchorages are at a premium in the Traverse with the influx of freelance operators moving into the region. Locating one within easy range of all three of your protected worlds will not be simple."

I grimaced, tipping my head to show him that I understood and respected his position. "The bulk of my fleet will probably be at Horizon... if you can find a location near Nagato, that should give you range to the Union's outer colonies and leave you close enough to move to Horizon or Nagato."

Ul Murridan pursed his lips, his four eyes narrowing in thought, "That might be possible, yes. I will have my people locate an acceptable system and contact you further."

We exchanged another set of polite nods, then settled back into our chairs as Aria began to rotate through her other subordinates. A few had been given enclaves on some of the smaller asteroids that orbited Omega for their service in the war, and updated her on the status of repairs and upgrades to their various facilities. The only two Asari in the group drew everyone's attention, given that they ran Aria's shipyards, and it took them a while to run through the mechanical triage still ongoing.

Apart from them, six _Ha'diq_ were given explicit permission to start cleaning house in the coreward clusters. Any system not claimed by someone present was considered fair game, with the long-term goal being the complete assimilation or expulsion of 'minor' pirate bands. Others were to begin patrols near the Perseus Veil, or released to make long-distance raids on conservative Hegemony worlds to hasten that faction's collapse.

Three, including the Turian who ran the only other PMC currently on station, notably didn't get any public orders at all. I considered worrying about that for a few heartbeats, then decided that I didn't need even more complications in my life.

The last report came from Ul Yesh, the young man standing with a bit more confidence than he had earlier. "Reconstruction efforts on Zadith Ban are proceeding. The local Krogan are proving more amiable than I thought, mostly because I've turned over local power to the few fertile femlaes that Ganar had hidden away."

I felt my lips tug into a small smirk, even as Ghai snorted and quietly rasped. "Clever."

Aria regarded the newest Great Warlord, "And those females obey you?"

"They obey the fact that I can bombard them at any moment." He admitted, "The larger issue is the general state of their territory. Those worlds I took from Zaen are in decent enough shape and can provide some support, but Ganar's planets..."

"I can guess." The Queen all but growled, "Get them in shape to support a war, I don't care how you do it."

"It is already a work in process." Yesh gave her an overly respectful bow as he returned to his seat. He didn't say it, but his posture screamed that he was more than aware that the only reason he had his position was because Aria had specifically chosen him to come out as the winner in the free-for-all campaign that had enveloped Zadith Ban after I'd killed Ganar Iraz.

"Good. If that's everything, get the fuck to work." Aria ended the meeting as suddenly as she'd begun it, striding her ass up the stairs and out of her personal exit. Her commandos stirred to life from where they'd been lounging, opening the rest of the doors for us before they too vanished.

Sederis rose, giving me a long look that told me we'd be conversing later, then spun on a heel and departed in a swirl of golden cloth.

"And she's annoyed that I'm not copying her on every little thing anymore." I sighed, reaching up to rub my forehead. "How do you think she's going to get back at me?"

Ghai grimaced, rolling her shoulder in a shrug. "Threats. Seduction. Usual."

My own face pulled a little as I stood up, "Leska then, she'll probably try for both and I'll have to be careful as fuck. Can't afford to piss her off, but giving in to either would basically be suicide."

"Yes." She agreed as she followed me to her feet, the pair of us beating everyone else to the nearest door thanks to our proximity. Her voice deepened as she pushed more words out, giving me a tired smile as we walked. "Welcome to being a Warlord on Omega. The games never end."

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communication Log**_

 _Shyeel: By the goddess, I can't..._

 _Kean, C: Shyeel, what is it? Is something wrong?_

 _Shyeel: No, it's... Athame, I can't stop laughing... this is... she's still twitching!_

 _Kean, C: ...you mind calling back when you're coherent?_

 _Shyeel: I'm fine, just... give me a moment. Right, so we got back to base from a trip to the Old District, and I convinced Voya to stop visit her brother since she's been avoiding him since we got here._

 _Kean, C: Oh goddess... please tell me that-_

 _Shyeel: That your brother didn't have her brother bent over the bed, complete with scented candles around Haro's quarters and a bunch of Quarian sexual stuff I didn't have time to take in?_

 _Kean, C: ...I did not need that mental image. Athame's azure I so did not..._

 _Shyeel: Neither did she! She just kind of shut down and gaped at them! I had to drag her out of there before they noticed, and this little muscle in her cheek is still twitching! I'm recording it to send to you both._

 _Shyeel: Cie?_

 _Shyeel: Cieran._

 _Illyan: Shyeel? Something wrong? And why is Cie just staring into space?_

 _Shyeel: Illyan! Is he twitching too?_

 _Illyan: ...his left hand kind of is, not as bad as when he's having an attack, more like when he's feeling really homicidal. What happened?_

 _Shyeel: Voya and I walked in on Magnus fucking Haro._

 _Illyan: ...That. Is. Awesome. How'd she react?_

 _Shyeel: Totally out of it, kind of twitching, not reacting to anything. I already locked the door so she can't run off to try and kill them._

 _Illyan: Good thinking. I'm going to throw this comatose idiot into bed, then grab a drink. I want details when I get back! And a vid!_

 _Shyeel: I'll have both, don't worry._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 8: Pragmatism**_

 _The title may be politics, but mostly this was a militant chapter, setting up the Terminus' initial long-term plans. There will be another such meeting in the second act, involving Cessa and the other Traverse Warlords. Big notes are that word about the Leviathans and Reapers is spreading, figured I would state this openly here; Assume all of the Great Warlords have been fully briefed on the Matriarch and Leviathans by Aria/Sederis/T'Ravt, though the personal details remain private (the knowledge is being presented as raw information). The Lesser Warlords know as much as they have to to take the threat seriously._

 _The next chapter will shift to the internal politics of the Silver Blades, along with plenty of Cie-Illyan talk. After that we'll just have two more chapters before this first Act draws to a conclusion; 1-9 - Demons, 1-10 - Deception, both involving helping Trena secure the last spot on her team. After that we're going to have a six chapter act from a separate POV, and it will be very heavy with both personal and political matters. POV will be named_ _Operatic Memory for those who wish to guess who it will be._

 _Act 3 will be back to Cieran, and will see the Hegemony Civil War moving to front and center._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

Mr. Odd - That argument was sort-of planned for a while, I just wasn't sure who he'd be having it with. hat particular situation seemed to be the right time.

seabo76 - Cieran cares very deeply about his friends. Not so deeply about everyone else.

GreaterGoodIreland - He might have been the first person to ever go back for her when she fell behind (or sent someone else to do it when he couldn't). Twice even. She and Cie are going to have an interesting relationship given Shepard's own role in her life (while that lasted).

Micha/Gods/Griezz - See the forums for responses. :P


	12. Act 1-8: Pragmatism

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Pragmatism**

 _Date:_ 03-05-2185

 _Location:_ Executive's Office, Illium Minor, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

"So." Jacqueline offered from where she was sitting on a holographic table, not caring that she was entirely fucking up the projection of Omega flickering around her. "Heard you and big sexy broke up. What the shit is that about?"

"Get off of that." I motioned for her to move her ass with my cup of tea, "And sort of. And aren't you supposed to be helping Trena train?"

She rolled her eyes, but hopped down and stepped aside. She'd finally given in and started wearing the uniform... partially. The pants and boots were standard issue, but she'd gone with just a black sports bra instead of the shirt in order to show off her tats as much as she could."Fucking losing track of time again, we got done with that shit an hour ago."

I blinked, then glanced at the floating clock near the picture of the asteroid. "Huh. Guess I did. How'd it go?"

"For all being over a century old, they're a bunch of kids who don't really know crap about fighting for their lives." Her lips pulled back in a grimace, "And they hang on my every word... it's kinda weird to be honest. Scales says I'm a natural teacher or some shit, but I don't really see it."

I could only sigh. It had taken her all of an hour to appropriate the nicknames that Trena and I used for each other, and she almost exclusively referred to us as such now. "You seem to enjoy it though."

"Maybe." She allowed, watching as I stepped up to the table and started adjusting things. "And stop avoiding shit ape. What the fuck happened to make you stop fucking?"

Turning, I lifted an eyebrow at her.

She blinked, then snorted. "So you're still going to be fucking, you're just not going to be together anymore. Thought you didn't go for that kind of thing."

"I... usually don't, no." I admitted as I returned my attention to the image. "But we've done a lot of talking the past few weeks, and we realized a few things about each other. Things that we both probably need to stop ignoring and work on fixing."

"Like the fact that you don't know what you want to be?" Jacqueline asked bluntly.

My lips pursed a little, and I took a long sip of my over-caffeinated beverage to try and disguise my discomfort. By the goddess but I forgot just how insightful she was beneath her crass exterior. At least when it came to people's personalities, when it came to things like healthy relationships she remained close to hopeless. "Something like that."

Boots clicked on the decking as she walked around the table in my new office, her head shaking. "So what the fuck did you pick? The mechanic, the commando, or the warlord?"

I considered changing the topic, then sighed and set my tea aside. "You already know. I don't have a bloody choice about it, as much as I want to be the first."

Brown eyes narrowed as she frowned, "Shit... yeah, I can see that. Those blue bitches wouldn't let you leave now, would they? Not with the crap in your head."

"Basically." I replied simply, something writhing a little bit in the depths of my chest. Jacqueline only knew the _official_ data, the same watered-down crap that Sederis and I had given Aria and the other warlords. She didn't know the full details about the 'games', or how I'd always known about her past... or how I should have fucking guessed that Shepard would end up dead regardless of Aethyta's interference.

"So you're stuck on this stupid rock then." She allowed, "I thought big sexy said she'd leave you if that happened, get her ass back home so she can go to clubbing and bar hopping again."

"We talked it over." I sighed. "As much as she wants to go home, I _need_ her here, regardless of what our relationship status is."

Her eyes blinked, "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Illyan's voice carried over the sound of the door opening, both of us glancing up as she entered, "It means he's been so busy being pissed that he's in this position that he keep forgetting that _he_ is in _command._ If he keeps letting Joa and Nara influence how we do things, we're going to end up being something he'll regret, and that's not something that he or I want to happen."

"Basically," I nodded as she walked in our direction, juggling several tablets in her hands before simply tossing them all onto the table. She gave me a quick hug that I returned with one arm before breaking apart, "If I'm going to be a fucking Warlord... I need to stop bitching about it and start doing things how I should want them to be done."

Jacqueline wrinkled her nose and mouth as she thought about it, then nodded slowly, "How you _should_ want them done. So she's your personal fucking moral compass?"

I snorted. "I'm calling her my Harath'krem, and fuck any Highborn who gets annoyed that I'm using the title that way."

The biotic rolled her eyes, "Always with the Batarian crap."

Illyan rolled a shoulder in a shrug, but there was a smile on her face. "You get used to it, and he's not as bad since we broke off from Ayle's group."

"True." She allowed, leaning against the bare wall behind her and crossing her arms while I grabbed the computers that Illyan had brought in. "I mean, I can get that shit. Even by your standards you're apparently more of an ass than I remember, and keeping those pirate bitches under control is a good thing as far I'm concerned. So what's she actually going to be doing besides spreading her legs once and a while?"

"Going over our long term plans for the most part, before I officially approve them." It was my turn to shrug as I ignored the crass part of her statement, "Supervising my subordinates to make sure they aren't up to anything. Joa and Ven especially."

Jacqueline frowned, "What the fuck do you think Ven could... oh, shit. He's got all that involvement with your planned economy crap, he could fuck you over real good if he wanted."

"Essentially." I nodded. "And if anything _does_ stat to happen, she can tell Trena to handle it."

"And..." The human woman turned to Illyan, "You'd rather be here, doing all that crap, rather than go back to Illium?"

"No." Illyan admitted bluntly, "But this idiot needs me around right now. I'll live for another thousand years, I can spend a some time helping him get things running how they should be."

That drew a grunt. "So you are still going on your sex and booze vacation, just not right away."

"Actually I'm leaving rather soon." She admitted, "Just for a month or so, then I'll be back and doing my new job."

"Hopefully with less stress." I added, "I'd rather not have my head slammed into metal when you get back."

Jacqueline snorted, "You probably deserved it ape, but what the fuck does all of that have to do with the two of you breaking up?"

The tall Asari and I exchanged a quick glance, sharing a mutual frown. I didn't mind Jacqueline asking about all of this, she was our friend and had more than earned a bit of honesty from me, but she'd never really shown any interest in my relationships before. Romantic or otherwise.

Illyan sighed when she realized that I was too busy wondering what Jacqueline's own reasons for asking where to answer, leaving it up to her. "Bunch of reasons really, beyond the fights that we keep having about him being a Warlord and what we're up to as a corporation. We keep looking at things, and... well, we could never work out how we'd be together long term. I'm... shit. Seeing all of you get old and die while I'm just hitting my Matron stage is going to be awful enough without adding things like children and romance into it."

"Children is another." I added as I came back to the conversation, returning my gaze to the devices as I neatly stacked two of them before turning the third on. "She wants them, eventually. I rather don't."

Jacqueline grimaced. "That shit with Wong, or Chang or whatever the fuck it is?"

It was still hard not to flinch at the names, and the conflicted emotions they dredged up. "I've... never really been a kids kind of person, that's just making it worse, and I don't see that changing anytime soon."

"And even if he did," Illyan added in, shamelessly grabbing my tea and downing the rest of it. "Ugh, cold. Even if he did, sooner or later I want to go home and just enjoy life. Cie's... not really cut out for that kind of lifestyle, even without his responsibilities."

"Yeah, he's not really the clubbing type." Jacqueline agreed, shaking her bald head, "I know you love that kind of shit. Still not hearing a real reason though."

"One of us would have to change, or both of us would." I filled her for her as I picked up the tablet and started flicking through the information on it. "Neither one of us wants the other to change so we're going to stop making that attempt before someone ends up hurt."

There was a long pause, followed by a heavy, disgusted sigh. "You're both fucking weird, you know that?"

My lips twitched a little, and I shrugged. "We are who we are. Did you want to stick around and help plan a military campaign?"

"Fuck no. I'm already late for the bar." Kicking herself away from the wall, she shoved her hands in her pockets before strutting out without a glance backwards.

I watched her go with a slight frown, then glanced at Illyan. "You or me?"

"You I think." She shrugged, "As far as I know, she only looks for other humans when she visits Yeva's place. You notice her eying you any other times?

Sighing, I reached up and rubbed at my forehead. "Yes, was hoping I was just imagining things. And no, I'm not thinking about it."

Her head cocked a little bit to one side in thought before she nodded once. "Probably a good thing. She needs someone who can help her, and right now you need enough of that yourself."

"Thank you for pointing that out." I replied dryly, then let my tone turn serious. "Illyan... are you sure about this? I know we've drowned the conversation about seven times now, but..."

She stepped closer to me again, pulling me into another tight embrace. "Yeah boss, I'm good. I mean, I'm a little upset for not realizing that I was just crushing on you, thought I was too old for that, and I feel like crap for some of the things I said last week-"

"Don't." I murmured, shifting a little to rest my forehead on her collarbone. "You didn't say anything that wasn't true. I'm not... exactly doing as well as I'd have liked. Even since Benihi..."

Strong arms briefly squeezed me closer, "Ever since Rane'li, you mean. Antibaar, Redcliffe, the mines, Benihi... that shit made it worse, but you haven't been the same since she died, much as you like to pretend otherwise."

As much as I didn't want to admit that, I knew it was entirely correct. I _wanted_ to think that I was reasonably healed, and something close the man who'd run Ironhold with three friends... but that version of me would never have been so stupid as to get so entangled so deeply with the Eclipse. Shit, I still had no idea what I was going to do when Leska or Jona showed up to berate me for keeping secrets.

Nor would that me have made a bad situation worse, like I probably had on Ferris Fields. He'd have accepted the necessity of working with people like the Butcher, or Sederis, or Aria but he'd have also done the best he fucking could to _minimize_ said contact and he'd have been coldly respectful to try and maintain some level of distance and detachment. And he'd have kept more tightly to his personal code than I currently was.

Not that I was running around consorting with slavers or anything like that, but... shit, I'd nearly let Joa and Nara talk me into fucking _invading_ several levels of Omega just for a potential long-term profit. If Illyan hadn't literally bounced my head off a wall as she demanded to know what the fuck I was doing, I probably would have let the operation go ahead within a month or two.

I'd had to take two local days off, entirely restricting things to just the two of us to really realize just how deeply that disturbed me. How... a few of the decisions I'd made since Rane had died still affected me. To admit the fact that I could _barely_ sleep without someone next to me was a horrifically bad sign about the state of my brain, and that it was time to actually do something about it beyond the random session with Ghai.

"All right." I breathed, stepping away as we let each other go. "Did you bring Nara's invasion plan?"

"Um... sort of." There was a definite nervous tenor to her voice that made me blink, glancing up at her as she moved over to the holographic display. A few moments of silent manipulation transferred a set of files from the third tablet to the table, bringing up a map of our enclave and the area directly below it.

A heartbeat later, the familiar icons and colored zones of a military plan likewise appeared.. but this one was definitely not the concept that Nara had developed.

"I might have... come up with something on my own." She admitted.

I pursed my lips a little, blinking as I regarded the holographic table in front of me. "Huh."

Illyan frowned back at me, planting her hands on her uniformed hips. "Huh? That's all you've got to say? You know how much work I had to do to come up with this plan?"

"You... re-planned the entire campaign." I spoke slowly, trying to wrap my head around the concept. "You planned an _offensive_ campaign to expand our territory on Omega. After spending the last two weeks being furious about even the idea of it, to the point where I almost had to beg you to stay here at all after you nearly ran my head through a wall."

Her expression twisted a little, "I didn't hit you that hard, stop being a bloody ass _._ And I stopped complaining three days ago, when I started on this. Didn't you notice?"

"I did." I allowed cautiously, "I just thought we'd agreed to table the discussion until next month with everyone else, and that you and I would _look_ at adjusting a few things today."

"Yeah...well, I didn't want to wait that long." She admitted, "What do you think?"

My eyes flicked back to the basic plan she'd drawn up. It was extremely thorough despite her having evidently done it alone, with detailed notes highlighting specific lift shafts, choke points, large businesses... even known gang roadblocks. Rather than the general expansion downwards that Joa, Nara, and Ven had been pressing, Illyan's concept was more surgical, going after specific high-value areas, specifically the trade docks on levels five and six.

"You came up with a campaign to expand our territory that maximizes what we gain, and minimizes our influence in civilian areas." I mused aloud, glancing back at her, "You've even pointed out every airlock and blast wall system that we could use to seal off what we gain, and the elevators that would ensure connection with what we currently have."

"Yeah." Teeth appeared as she bit her lip, "I mean... you were going to give Nara the order, weren't you?"

"Yeah." I admitted softly. "Nynsi's factories are going all out, and she and Ayle are draining the Traditionalist bloc of currency... but we're still barely in the blue as a group. Even a tiny setback would start tearing into her cash reserves, and they wouldn't last long with how much we're expanding."

Which was the sad truth of everything. Once the Reapers and Leviathans actually showed up, the fight for survival would become all the motivation most people needed to fight, to contribute. But until then... until then we still had to pay our people's salaries, pay the shipyards for repairs, pay the construction workers to repair our enclave, pay for long term supplies, the list was fucking endless even just for my little branch, never mind Nynsi's and Ayle's on top of that.

A lot of the problem was our unfortunate combination of size and youth, plus my own philosophies. I was paying our people as the same rate that T'Ravt paid her soldiers, which was only slightly above what other PMC's offered, but those corporations had usually had years to decades to build up their numbers, their reputation, and long-term contracts. Further, most of them relied on slaves and desperate labor for the kinds of things that I was paying professional wages for.

The sad fact was that if we _didn't_ expand and find more income, we couldn't realistically pay for more than three or four regiments, and the repair schedule for our warships would have to be stretched out into years instead of months. The only other alternative would be to lower what we offered our people, and that was something I wasn't willing to do.

I wanted a professional army, not poorly paid rabble who might get a better offer tomorrow.

"Since it was going to happen, whether I liked it or not, I thought the best thing I could do as your new Harath'krem would be to come up with the best possible plan." She waved a hand at what she'd done as a result of that thinking, "Nara wants to just crash down like a tidal wave, take over everything, but we don't need all that extra stuff."

Reaching up, I ran a hand through my goatee and checked over the list on the left side of the image. "Both trade docks within our reach, five active casinos, another two major shopping districts, and the headquarters of Black Night News."

"And the express elevator that runs to three of the casinos." Illyan added, biting her lip again, "I mean, it runs all the way down to Cala, so we'd need to put guards at each stop if we want to charge for its use, but better the money go to us than the Aramasi Serpents and the Blue-Claws."

I felt my mouth twitch into a small smile, "And if I'm reading this right, everything you picked out is controlled by small gangs who will probably just run away, or by local owners who will negotiate rather than fight. No major push into civilian zones, encouraging people to either ask us to move in peacefully, or just immigrate in on their own."

Something like relief appeared in her eyes as her own lips curled upwards, "You like it, don't you?"

"I fucking love it." I replied honestly, "Elder help you put this together?"

"It gave me some of the details, the ones we didn't already know at least." She stepped around the table a bit, moving to allow me to lean against her side in our familiar way. "And reminded me every other minute that it isn't obligated to help us anymore... before asking when I planned on supplanting you."

"Of course it did." I snorted, wrapping an arm around her powerful waist. The thing had likely assisted her because of its weird compulsion to help Asari, especially when they were up to something that involved military action or gratuitous levels of violence. Not that it would help just any random Asari, but since it considered us to be Aria's 'vassals', it seemed to accept collaborating with our Asari members.

And it _always_ tried to convince them to kill or otherwise remove me and the other non-Asari in authority positions so that they could take over.

"When do you think you'd execute it?" She asked, "You think we can handle it?"

"I want to at least get everything secure on the surface level, so I'd assume we could more than handle it." The shoulder pressed into her side rolled a little, "We should be mostly cleaned and setup by late next month, figure we'll start the month after and plan for it to be a very short campaign."

There was a soft snort, "I meant you think we can convince everyone else to flow with this plan?"

"I think I'm going to tell them how we're doing this, and get annoyed at any bitching that happens." I replied simply. "The only people whose opinions I'm worrying about are yours, mine, and Ayle's."

"And Erana's." Illyan pointed out. "Since she makes a better Moonrise than you do, and I've seen you drooling over her library."

I pursed my lips. "Considering that she bought them all with my money, I believe I am entirely within my rights to borrow them."

Another snort came as she shifted, leaning her chin against the top of my head. "I was thinking of telling Ghai that you actually spent two shifts yesterday reading in my sister's room, when you told her that you were in closeted meetings with Aria and that she had to run everything."

"You _encouraged_ me." I growled back at her, "And now you're blackmailing me with it?"

"Hmmm..." She hummed, "Yeah, pretty much. You really should have seen that coming."

I could only sigh. "What am I doing for you?"

She shifted position slightly, and warm lips pressed against my forehead. "You already know Cie. I'll be back in a month, take good care of my sister. And find a way to get some goddess-damned _sleep_ that doesn't involve drugs."

"Considering that the only other thing that helps me sleep is a warm body and sex, or constant artillery fire in the background..." My words faded as I realized what she wanted, "Seriously? I'm not sleeping with one of Yeva's prostitutes just to keep you quiet about yesterday."

"Then Joa, or Ghai, or any of the ten thousand Baarian women who swoon when you walk by." She paused, "Not Nara though. I think she's got ideas about expanding her power and crap."

"I _know_ she does." I rolled a shoulder, "She's not exactly subtle, and I'll deal with that if she tries anything. And seriously, _Ghai_? Do you _want_ Trena and I to kill each other?"

"Only if there's video footage." Illyan replied brightly. "And no, I'm not wasting my blackmail on getting you to sleep with someone. That's just a matter of getting enough rum into you and getting you horny enough to not care anymore."

My fingers twitched. "Illyan."

"I know, I know." Her other arm snaked around me, a third and final hug coming before we broke apart. "You know what I mean. Take care of yourself for once, and try to only be an asshole to people who deserve it."

"So be polite to T'Soni, and not to Aethyta on the call tomorrow?"

She rolled her eyes, but there was a small grin on her face. "Don't do anything I wouldn't approve of, even if you're really, really annoyed."

That one would be harder, and I nodded soberly. "You take care of yourself as well... and for fuck's sake, don't ditch whatever escorts that the Eclipse or Nynsi gives you. If I have to come save you I'll be really fucking annoyed about it."

The smile stayed, then faded a little as she realized that I was delaying this just as much as she was. "Right... I should go get ready then, since the ship leaves soon."

"Yeah." I exhaled the word. All of the rational discussions that we'd had, the almost constant arguing that we'd nearly devolved into... they didn't make this any easier. "Be back in a month, we'll start prep work for the expansion plan once you're here. And... have fun."

"I will." Illyan replied quietly, stepping back and starting for the door. "I'll drop you a message, once I'm there so you know Sederis isn't trying to hold me for ransom. Stay safe."

"I will." I offered as she exited my office, her tall frame vanishing without looking back.

And that was that.

Athame's ass but it hurt more than I thought it would.

Turning away, I returned my attention to the holographic map of the campaign, even if I wasn't really seeing it.

Realistically we _could_ have made it work, and I knew it. And she knew it. We just... there hadn't been that spark, not like I'd had with Rane'li, or even Nynsi. It would have taken work, and pain, and change, and... we just hadn't wanted to risk it, not when we knew that we could just end it now and safely return to something similar to the relationship we'd shared for years.

But I still felt...

The sound of the door opening broke me from my short musings, the sound of armored feet moving across the metal floor in measured steps. A few breaths later, the vanilla smell of chehala tickled my nose, and I sighed.

"How much of that did you listen in on?" I asked quietly, not bothering to turn around.

"All of it." Trena replied almost softly. "You still sure about all this? I knew it was just a goddess-damned reaction to what happened on Redcliffe, but I kinda hoped you two would find a way to work it out... shit, even if I didn't think you could."

My right shoulder rolled in a shrug, "We're doing the practical, reasonable, matriarchal thing to do. Jeopardizing our friendship, our new working relationship, could seriously screw us both up long term. Risking it is stupid."

"Yeah." She agreed. "Still stupid of you both."

"Trena..."

"Tell me I'm lying and that it doesn't suck."

"...it massively sucks." I sighed, planting my hands on the table and leaning forwards. "You help her with the plan?"

"Just the details." Scales nodded as she appeared, walking up to stand beside me. She wordlessly offered me her smoldering pipe, then shrugged when I shook my head. "She had the core concept, Elder and I just helped her turn it into an actual plan of action."

I grunted slightly, then stretched a hand out to shut the table off. I'd copy and transfer the concept over to Nara some other time, when I wasn't...

"You really had to beg her to stay at all?"

My eyes closed slowly. "Yes."

"...shit." She muttered softly. "Cieran-"

I held a hand up and shook my head, "Trena, don't make excuses for me. I've always been an ass but I've never been such an ass as to almost drive off _Illyan_. She's the closest thing we have to a moral person around here and if she'd left... shit, if I don't actually force myself to listen to the things she says, we could still end up being the Blue Suns two-point-oh."

"Or Shaaryak's personal army." She pointed out, turning to rest her back against the table as she leaned against it. "You know that having you back and running that kind of thing would basically be her goddess-damned dream come true."

"Yeah." I sighed. "And Ayle would only vaguely care about either situation. She's... a mercenary at heart I guess. She cares less about the details and more about the results."

"And you stopped caring." She continued for me, "You really stopped giving a fuck once Krom was dead. Athame's ass, you stopped caring about anything _but_ that stupid son of a bitch while he was alive."

"I cared about you." I offered tiredly. "And Voya, my friends. I've never really cared about anyone, or anything else. That's not a new development."

"No," She agreed, "But you went from not caring to almost picking a fucking _fight_ with the Butcher of Torfan in a shuttle. The guy was an ass, but you just couldn't keep your bloody mouth shut. I'll admit I'm a shit influence, but you used to have a better idea about when to just clench your teeth and sail away."

I vaguely recalled a time when it had been me getting Trena to keep her mouth shut so that we didn't end up in trouble... the student had evidently surpassed the teacher, but not in a good way. "What do you think I should do?"

The tiny Asari went still, blinking at me in something like shock before quickly fumbling her pipe into her mouth. She took several long puffs on it before lowering it, blowing smoke out through her nose. "Been a long time since you asked me that."

My mouth curled microscopically at the edges. "There's a good reason for that."

A similarly small smile appeared on her own lips. "Fair point ape. Right now I think you need to stay the fuck away from relationships until you get your own head back in order, and firmly slam your fists down on this corporation. I like Joa, don't get me wrong, but she's still a goddess-damned pirate and she thinks like one. Nara wants to fuck you and ride you to power, and that means she's going to try and con you into expanding that power as much as she can. And fucking Ven needs a mother-fucking _spine_ and a kick in the ass so that he stops running to you every time he's got a problem."

I grunted softly, not disagreeing with any of it. "And your father."

Her face scrunched up, "I'll deal with that bitch. We aren't a new branch of her fucking group, and if Leska tries to strut her ass in here and throw her weight around, I'll throw her out a fucking window."

"As amusing as that would be," I smiled at the mental image, "I think it's better if I deal with it."

She frowned, taking another puff of her pipe. "You got a plan?"

"Not in the slightest." I shrugged. "I'll come up with something. If I don't, I'll have you enact the secondary throw-her-out-a-window plan."

Trena snorted then pushed on, "Apart from that, you're not doing bad with Aria right now. Just keep avoiding the bitch except when she demands you, and keep cutting it as short as you can. Shaaryak you seem to have a handle on, but Massa..."

"She's the senior Captain, and I'm not going to start a power struggle between us." I informed her, "But we're still running pretty independently right now, with majority votes for big crap. Pretty sure she'll side with me over Nynsi in any disagreements... of course, I can't piss Nynsi off too much considering that she's providing us all of our weapons, armor, and equipment. Last thing we need is her having a fit and slowing shipments to influence my decisions."

"She would. The bitch." Scales sighed. "You're in a shit spot ape, but you know it and you had the good fucking sense to stop Illyan from walking away from us entirely... shit, listen to us. Fucking _responsible_ people now."

"Sad, isn't it?" I asked. "Think Ghai can handle running things for another shift?"

"You want to go get drunk?"

"Fuck yes."

* * *

 **Silver Blades Communication Log**

 _Kean, C: Mirala?_

 _Mirala: Cieran, thank the goddess. I need a... you're drunk._

 _Kean, C: I am?_

 _Mirala: You're trying to drink from an empty bottle of rum._

 _Kean, C: ...where the fuck did my rum go?_

 _Mirala: Oh goddess. Cieran. Is anyone else there?_

 _Kean, C: Anyone... else? Trena, do you know anyone else?_

 _T'Laria, T: Ape, give me that. And sit your ass back down. Hey demon bitch. What's up?_

 _Mirala: I told you not to call me that. I need a favor. And why is he drunk?_

 _T'Laria, T: He and Illyan broke up. He's taking it rather well, all things fucking considered._

 _Mirala: Oh. I... see._

 _T'Laria, T: So what the fuck is your favor? Aren't you on vacation or something?_

 _Mirala: Yes, but... I'm sorry, they broke up? Why?_

 _T'Laria, T: They're a pair of idiots. Look, can we move this along? I think he's about at the point where he's going to pass out or throw up and I don't want to deal with either._

 _Mirala: Right. My... vacation hasn't gone as well as I'd hoped. I could use a ride from Illium to Omega in two weeks._

 _T'Laria: That's fucking nothing. We'll have a shuttle for you._

 _Mirala: A shuttle might not be the best idea, things are a little complicated._

 _T'Laria: ...Shit. What do you need?_

 _Mirala: I'm going to need an escort. And guns. Lots of guns. And preferably send someone who knows how to fight Justicars._

 _T'Laria, T: … I'm not fucking drunk enough for this conversation. Let me get this idiot into his bed and grab my bondmate, then you get to start at the beginning._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 9: Demons**_

 _And I'm temporarily abandoning my planned schedule due to the upcoming combination that is Andromeda and Adepticon. Since I likely won't be posting at all next week, and possibly the week after, I want to at least get the first act done and out to everyone before I go dark._

 _Here we see Cieran and Illyan being mature, responsible adults, the bloody idiots, even if Cieran is at least starting to realize just how thin of a line he's currently walking. It's not going to be a fast or easy shift back towards something like what he was in Terminus & Ronin, but he's at least going to make the effort._

 _Communications log should give everyone a pretty good idea as to what the next two chapters are about._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

fan-rei → It would likely cause a small reaction that would vanish quickly as those in power named it a conspiracy theory coming out of the Terminus. Aethyta wouldn't be able to do much either since the Matriarch was able to seize control of most of the Broker assets in the Republics.

Griezz → He'd let Voya hunt you down and ignore the screaming and blood that followed. :P

Invisible Pretender → The faster pace of this story cut out a bunch of the actual politics from this act and saw them shoved into the second and third acts.

5 Coloured Walker → It is already 2185. Technology and society march ever onwards.

Gods-own → See the forums for the full response. Quick answer; You're basically right.


	13. Act 1-9: Demons

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Demons**

 _Date:_ 03-12-2185

 _Location:_ Silver Blades Headquarters, Illium Minor, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

"Cieran." Leska purred, "How good to see you."

"Leska." I replied politely, channeling my Highborn manners as she held out her hand. I bowed over it, but kept my head perfectly level rather than dipping it to the left. "A pleasure, as always. Unfortunately our meeting is going to be delayed. Feel free to take a seat at a bar, I will be with you once my business is resolved."

Something like surprise briefly flickered across her features, then she schooled them into neutrality. "I'm afraid that my time is precious, I have a campaign I should be running in the Far Rim at the moment. I will have to insist."

I swallowed my first reply as Illyan's voice mentally chastised me for even thinking it. "If you wish to observe the meeting first hand, you may do so to ensure that I am available the moment it is done."

Another quick blink. "Cieran-"

" _No,_ Leksa." Some level of harshness came out before I could stop it, "There is an internal matter that I have to handle, and that I'm giving you permission to listen in should tell you that I'm taking you seriously and respecting your own urgency."

The Eclipse's Admiral regarded me silently for several long breaths, then nodded slowly. "Very well... as your guest, I suppose it behooves me to accept whatever priorities you believe take precedence."

"Thank you." I replied flatly, turning and politely waving an arm to where our Lancer team and senior staff were already gathering in one of the sunken command pits.

She walked past me slowly, then sped up as she seemed to reach some kind of mental conclusion. Her tan uniform drew more than a few curious looks from the slow bustle of our command center, but most onlookers quickly found something else to be doing once they caught sight of my annoyed expression.

The main area was finally done with construction, but the lack of workers actually seemed to highlight the fact that we were still in the building-up phase. We had space and equipment for ten regimental commanders to run command and control of their formations from this room, with extra space for four or five supporting teams in case we needed it. Given that we currently had one regiment still trying to work out its final rosters, and a second existing only as a skeletal framework of officers trying to plan things out, the massive area felt abandoned even with Nara's entire staff hard at work in their own area.

"Everyone." I spoke loudly enough for my voice to carry, Captain Vishin and Chek shuffling a little out of my way as I started down the short steps. "For those who don't know her, this is Leska Sederis, Admiral of the Eclipse fleets, and our guest. Treat her as such anytime she's here."

There was a series of nods and polite head tilts in response, and Leska replied in kind before electing to remain on the main floor proper near Chek.

Joa frowned at me as I approached the table in the center of the pit, flicking her eyes between me and the other Asari. "The Eclipse is involved in this emergency meeting then?"

"Partially." I replied simply, not bothering to elaborate as I closed down the image of Omega, flicking through files before locating a map of Nos Irrail and loading it. "How soon can the _Reliant_ get us to Illium?"

She blinked a few times, "What about the Horizon contract?"

I pursed my lips, "They'll be compensated for the delay. How soon?"

"Four days if you want me to fight anyone, we've got half the laser batteries in pieces for maintenance along with one of the main spinal mounts." Joa managed, shaking her head a little, "If you just need a quick ride, I'll need a shift to call the crew back from shore leave."

I did some quick mental math, then grunted. "It's third shift now, I want to be ready to go by second tomorrow. Expect to be above Illium for a matter of hours, at most, so no shore leave. We're probably going to need a fast getaway."

"Right..." She replied, "I suppose we can put some of the guns back together while we're underway, save some time when we get back, but it'll still probably cost us a few days of time."

"I would appreciate anything you can do to shorten the turnaround." I shifted my attention to Ven, "Ven, send a notice to Nynsi's people, tell them I might need a few more GTS trucks for the Horizon contract due to the delay. Four at least, maybe six."

All four of his eyes blinked, "I don't know if they'll be able to fulfill that request Commander."

"Then tell them it isn't a request." I replied simply. "Trena? Go."

Trena glanced to Ghai, the only other people who knew what was going on sharing a quick nod before she moved over to the other side of the table. "Right. One of the people I'm bringing in to the Lancer team has gotten her blue ass in trouble, and she's on the fucking run. She's due to arrive on Illium in a few days, and its our job to get her the fuck out."

Nara pursed her tanned lips together. "That seems like a simple objective."

"She's got at least two Justicars after her." Scales replied flatly, "And they conscripted a pair of Republic commando teams to help them hunt her ass down. Expect I-Sec to be either working with them or trying to make themselves scarce."

The Batarian woman grimaced. "Sacred Pillars... how did she manage that?"

"She tried to break her sisters out of prison, didn't quite manage it and the Justicars have been pursuing her since." I answered. "Nara, you're coming with, along with three squads. Pick whoever you think is the most ready. Athame willing we won't need you, but I want to plan for the absolute worst."

She seemed to mull on that for a few heartbeats, then nodded and flicked her upper eyes to Vishin. "Get Vessen's unit, along with Behit and... which team did better in this morning's exercise, Niv or Jurit?"

"Jurit. I'll send the alerts." The former Captain of Marines dipped his head, backing his way up the stairs smoothly even as his omni-tool came online to send out the orders.

"Right then." Trena resumed, "Basic fucking plan is basic. She'll beat us to the planet by a day, and is going to head for a safe-house she owns in Irrail. I'm taking the Lancers to Nos Astra. According to Mirala, word's gotten out that she's one of ours, so us showing up nice and publicly should draw a lot of fucking attention. We're going to do our fucking best to find those red armored zealots and lead them on a fucking chase around the city."

"While that is happening, I'll be heading down to Nos Irrail with Lancer Nought." I nodded to the map, "We'll load her into an aircar and get her back to the starport, and from there to the _Reliant._ "

A grimace flickered across Joa's face, and she reached a purple hand up to rub at her cheek. "They're not bringing warships along?"

"No." I shook my head, "If my information is right, Thessia is freaking out about this about as badly as the Board of Directors is. They won't send in a fleet to apprehend one criminal, not at the risk of touching off a brawl between them and the Terminus. They'll have the local defensive fleet, but they're all on the Eclipse's payroll."

"Correct." Leska's smooth voice cut in, "They might put up a good show of pursuit, but nothing more."

Joa nodded slightly, but she still didn't look happy. "All right, but there's still the Justicars to worry about. They don't exactly respect borders, it's entirely likely they'll come after us anyway."

There was a snort from Trena. "Those red armored idiots would last about ten minutes in the Terminus before they started executing everyone in sight and got swarmed. Archangel managed that shit because he was smart enough to be subtle and cautious about the crap he did, but I don't think Justicars understand that fucking word."

"Precisely." I nodded in turn, "Back to the operation. The moment we're airborne with Mirala, the rest of the Lancers will bail. Soon as everyone is on the _Reliant,_ we leave."

Jacqueline cleared her throat, "What about big sexy? She's on planet isn't she?"

I grimaced, "Yeah, and she's livid that her vacation is being cut short. She'll be acting as control for both units and will be working with a Broker asset to keep track of the Justicars."

That seemed to satisfy her, and she nodded before Ven cautiously raised his voice, "Sir, what about Lady Shaaryak's branch? Won't they be questioned about us and Mirala?"

It was Trena's turn to grimace, "They already are. Shaaryak moved proactively and has I-Sec crawling all over her shit to make sure that its perfectly fucking clear that she isn't hiding her or doing anything illegal. One of the Justicars is already on planet, and she seemed to buy that bitch's assertion that she's never even met Mirala and that her branch isn't involved."

He grimaced, "I see... that explains why you're taking units from here, instead of simply utilizing hers. We're going to have to maintain a fiction that our branches operate independently now, aren't we sir?"

I rolled a shoulder in a shrug, "Only for a week, and only on Illium, so don't worry about it. Scales, go ahead and claim another table, run your team through your backup plans for when shit goes to the deeps."

"Right." She grunted, turning away and strutting off. "Chek, Vessian, Washana. Come on."

The four of them departed, giving the seven of us that remained a bit more room to spread out. Most of that was thanks to Chek's departure, we hadn't really planned the layout for Krogan, a mistake in hindsight considering the unusual numbers of them that we were attracting.

"Right." I spoke into the quiet that followed, "Ghai, you'll be running things while I'm gone. I want you and Vishin to go over the expansion plan in depth, and keep up the training. The first Line Company is due on Horizon next month so make sure they're ready. Ven? Keep up with the economic plans managing the repairs. I had Erana send you a short list of assistants to act as your XO, pick the one who you feel the best about."

The man nodded slightly, "I looked it over sir, but... they're all Krogan females."

"Yes." I agreed, "They are. If you've got a problem with a Highborn trying to throw their weight around, send whoever you pick to deal with the situation."

Joa snorted, her lips curling. "Oh that's just mean."

For his part, Ven just moved his mouth a few times, then ducked his head in acceptance. "I.. will do so sir."

I grunted, "This is just a temporary measure until you can get over that cultural crap and tell them to fuck off yourself, so don't think I'm going to let you keep using that excuse forever. Joa, go get your ship in order and make sure we're ready to go. Jacqueline? I have a meeting with Leska, shouldn't take more than an hour, come up to my office around then to go over our part."

"Reyja'krem, if I may." Nara spoke up just as everyone was about to break apart, "I was hoping to discuss the revised expansion concept you sent me."

I regarded her flatly, then tipped my head to show upper-crust annoyance. "Tell them to Ghai. If she thinks they are legitimate concerns, we can have a briefing when I return."

All four of her eyes blinked, and she briefly showed surprise in her posture before she corrected it. Not that I could really blame her, I didn't think I'd ever seriously talked down to her as a commander to his subordinate. Which was probably part of the reason why she'd been subtly shifting herself to remind me that she was open to spending more time with me personally whenever she could.

Not that I regretted our short fling on Redcliffe, but the situation was very different now. She was far more interested in my power and my titles than she was in me, and while I liked and respected her personally, I wasn't interested in enabling that kind of ambition. The sooner she got the message, the sooner I could decide if I'd made a mistake in bringing her in at all.

Rather than wait for her to respond, I turned around and got moving in Leska's direction. The Admiral silently turned, lengthening her strides slightly to keep pace as I strode towards the nearest selection of lifts.

She remained silent until the doors had shut, the elevator hurling us upwards towards the floor I shared with Trena and the other Lancers. "That was rather... commanding of you."

I half closed my eyes and let out a tight breath, "Would you find it terribly rude if I dispensed with the Highborn act?"

"Of course not." Leska sounded amused at the question, "It served its purpose in throwing me off when I arrived, but it would only irritate you to continue the act and that will make our negotiations even more difficult."

"Thank you." I grimaced and let my shoulders slump a little. "And there isn't going to be any negotiations."

A tutting sound came from between her teeth as we arrived on the top floor, the pair of us exiting the lift and entering a broad lounge with an excellent view of the neighboring area. "Will there not be? The relationship between our corporations remains very close, and my mother wishes to ensure that continues."

"She wants to make sure I still obey when she calls." I replied bluntly, waving towards a couch while I headed to a min-bar set into the interior wall. "You're here to threaten me, blackmail me, or seduce me into it. Rum?"

"Teal wine, please. And I do adore working with you, its refreshing to deal with someone who isn't an idiot." She sighed as she settled into the couch, "You're entirely correct. Mother is annoyed at the realization that you no longer tell her everything, and that you barely contact her anymore. As Ithiri has no talent for diplomacy, and as she had to return home to oversee war preparations, the task was left to me."

I grunted, my hands automatically finding glasses and bottles, getting to work on preparing our drinks. "So which is it first? Or do you want me to guess?"

"Drinks first, guessing after."

That drew a small snort and an honest smile as I glanced at her, shaking my head before returning to what I was doing. A few minutes later had me settling onto the other end of the couch, passing her the glass of wine as I sipped at my own drink.

"Since you aren't already trying to encroach on me, I'm assuming blackmail first. She going to give my will to Vakarian and T'Soni?"

Leska smiled beatifically, "Yes. Your response is that you hardly care if they know, and that you already have plans in case T'Voth informs them."

I did. It would be unpleasant, essentially amounting to shifting my command center to the _Reliant_ and not leaving the ship until I had a chance to talk them down, but I was reasonably sure I could convince them that I hadn't known for _sure_ what would happen given the changes to the timeline.

"You'll follow it up with a threat about Illyan's safety, given that she's on Illium." I continued, "It'll be nice and subtle, remarking about what clubs she's been to and who her escorts are."

Something like immense satisfaction appeared on her face as she settled further back into the couch, "You will reply that my mother should know better than to threaten your friends while you're still alive, and then you will casually inquire what I would do if I found myself in command of the Eclipse."

Goddess but I'd forgotten how much easier Leska was to work with than her mother. "That just leaves seduction, and I'm not interested in getting involved with someone who's already dating Yan T'Ravt. That leaves us at an impasse."

"Where," She sipped from her wine, "You assure me that you are not acting _against_ my mother or I, merely playing your cards more cautiously than you once might have in light of the Matriarch's increasing activity. That you will of course support our family over Aria in any future crisis, and that you are aware of Shaaryak's ambitions and will of course ensure they don't conflict with the Eclipse's own goals."

I grunted, tipping back my own glass and letting the flavor linger for a few moments. "Waste of time completed, how's the war going?"

"Slowly." She sighed, letting her head loll back a bit. "We have secured the colonial zone in the Dark Rim and Traverse, and are pushing across the Edge. It shouldn't take long before we reach the Hegemony proper, but things remain... complicated there."

Meaning everything was still a bloody mess, and no one was sure who was actually on which side in the civil war. "I find myself rather glad to not be involved in that particular war."

Another sigh came before she sipped more wine. "Yes, but unfortunately our people _do_ need to be blooded before the true threat comes, and this is the most opportune manner to do so. Although this pointless diversion continues to annoy, I should have already reached the Dark Rim to prepare coordinating the next action."

"You can take the wine with you if you like, with Illyan gone no one's going to drink it." I nodded to the door, "One last question, your mother already tell you about Mirala and the Justicars?"

"Of course." She replied with a rolling shrug, heaving herself to her feet with every sign of reluctance. "Her compound is already on alert, and all of our facilities are temporarily on lock-down until they depart. We, after all, desire a war just as little as Thessia does at the moment."

I nodded slightly, watching as she walked over to select the bottle I'd left out. "Not going to ask why I greeted you as I did?"

"It seems perfectly obvious." Leska gave me a slight smile, "You've finally elected to accept your title, and were informing me of said decision. Your subordinates seemed surprised, do take care that none of them elects to kill you for your position. I would hate to have to work with such an amateur in the future."

"I will do my best to avoid inconveniencing you by dying." I replied dryly, "Thanks for saving both of us some time."

"Thanks are unnecessary, it was mutually beneficial." Cradling the bottle in a single arm, she finished off the last of her glass and set it aside before turning back to the lift. "Should I inform Massa that you will be taking the senior position in your little triumvirate?"

"No." My head shook, "But you can tell her that I'm finally getting to work."

"I will do so." We exchanged polite nods as she summoned the elevator, stepping inside and vanishing once it arrived. I watched the doors close and sighed, bringing my omni-tool up and composing a short message to Ayle, asking her to let me know just what Leska told her when she did show up.

The odds of my question beating Leska to the edge of the galaxy weren't in my favor, given the fact that more than a few communications buoys had been destroyed in the fighting, but it was better than nothing. I made a quick memo for myself once I'd sent the message, a reminder to have Erana send a sealed physical copy in the next supply shipment that Nynsi routed through Omega.

Once I was done with that bit of busywork, I heaved my ass off of the couch and relocated to my actual office. It still wasn't much to look at, not anymore than downstairs was. A simple desk with console system built in, a comfortable chair for myself, a holographic table off to one side, a closed door that lead to my and... to my rooms, and a few scattered less-comfortable chairs for guests.

The only thing that wasn't utilitarian was the battered book sitting on my desk, and I wasted little time in grabbing it as I sat down. Like most of Erana's books, it was on blue water navies, this particular book being a Turian take on the naval tactics of the First and Second World Wars. It was incredibly amusing since the author could only barely wrap his head around some of the nonsensical crap that had happened, and he'd spent the entire first half of the book trying to understand why the High Seas Fleet hadn't thrown itself at the British in a death or glory battle in 1914.

I got through most of a chapter, entirely consisting of gushing about the offensive zeal of British sailors, before Jacqueline arrived, the petite woman not bothering to knock as she breezed in. "Ape, why the fuck am I paired with you?"

"Biotics." I replied, carefully replacing my bookmark before closing the tome. "If we're going up against Justicars, I'm going to run out of nullification grenades fast. You don't want to go?"

"No, shit's fine, just wanted to make sure you had a good reason." She shrugged as she grabbed a chair, collapsing into it with her legs sprawled out. "Was hoping to talk with you anyway."

I pursed my lips slightly. "About?"

"The shit you owe me." Some of her usual cockiness seemed to drain out of her, her brown eyes not quite meeting mine. "I know what I want."

"All right..." I folded my fingers together and leaned forwards. The motion did a lot to reduce the Batarian stiffness I usually held myself with, and my fellow humans seemed to appreciate that. "What do you want?"

"I..." She almost seemed to grimace, scrunching her eyes a little. "Train me."

I blinked. That... hadn't been what I'd been expecting. "...what?"

Her lips pulled back, and she sucked in a breath, "When those assholes took me, they... barely bothered to tie me up. They just threw a collar around my neck and ripped my amp off, and made a game of catching me when I tried to run away."

"Jacqueline-"

"Every fucking time." She spat, cutting me off. "I couldn't do _shit._ Some big fucking Batarian or Turian would just throw me onto the ground, laugh when I tried to hit them, then... shit, you know what fucking happened next. Without my amp, without my biotics... I want you to train me so next time I can rip their dicks off."

Ah. I settled back in my chair, regarding her as seriously as the conversation deserved. "Why not Voya? I assume you asked her first."

"I did." She admitted openly, "But Quarian moves apparently don't work well for humans. We've got the same height but she's got way more muscle mass, and all her shit is dense or something. She said I should ask you, that you could take her out if you were serious about fighting her."

I didn't know about that, not in the slightest. I thought I was pretty good in hand to hand, but Voya was... well, Voya.

"I mean... fucking look at you." A hand waved at me, "You're a fucking stork, and you've taken out fucking _Krogan_ in close combat."

"With a gun." I pointed out.

"Still more than I could fucking do without..." Jacqueline briefly let her power ripple out, blue waves making her chair rattle before she let them die out. "I... before that collar went on, didn't realize how much I need them just to do shit."

"And... you want me to teach you?" I asked, still trying to wrap my head around it.

"Yeah." She replied simply.

"Jacqueline..." I kept my voice soft, "I've never... taught anyone before."

"Neither have I, and you still fucking made me go out there and run maidens through battle drills." She countered. "You owe me."

I did... I really did. I was at least partially responsible for what had happened to her, and saving her life twice in the aftermath in no way balanced the scales. Against that... whether or not I'd ever done it before was entirely meaningless. I owed her the attempt, if nothing else.

I sighed, "I can't promise that I'll be any good at this, but all right."

"I said you fucking owe... wait." She'd half risen out of her chair, then abruptly fell back onto her ass as she blinked at me. "You'll... do it? That's it? No asking why the fuck Shepard didn't do it or crap like that?"

"Yes, Yes, and No." I smiled a little, "You thought you'd have to argue more? I all but told you I'd do almost anything you asked after we thawed you out."

"I...well yeah, but..." Her head shook, "Most people don't really mean that crap when they say it."

"I do." I shrugged, "I'm assuming that Shepard did as well."

Jacqueline grimaced again, then lowered her gaze to the floor. "Yeah. She did. She really hated you, you know that?"

That drew a small grin to my face, "Yeah... I kind of was an ass to her, every-time we met."

"That was part of it." Her head shook once, but there was something like a grin on her face. "She tried so fucking hard to be a good little girl scout, but you could tell she didn't want to be. Wonder what she'll be like if those fucks actually pull it off."

"We'll have to see." I rolled a shoulder again, "Are you going to join her again, if she does?"

"I... don't know." The smile faded as she bit her lip, "Look, that's way off all right, let's just work on you teaching me how to kick ass without my biotics. You have another set of those gauntlet things around?"

I snorted, "I think the first thing we're going to do is turn those twigs into actual arms and legs. When you can actually hit me hard enough to hurt me, we'll move on to weapons."

The comment earned me a scowl, "I fucking need moves and crap, not a fucking exercise trainer."

She needed a lot more than that. I regarded her for several long breaths, working out an impromptu plan, then slowly stood up from my chair and walked around my desk and into the open. "Hit me."

She blinked. "..the shit?"

"Hit me." I repeated, crossing my arms and staring down my nose at her. "You just said you couldn't fight men off without your biotics. I want to see how hard you can hit me without them."

More blinking, then she shook her head and rose. Gritting her teeth together, she hauled an arm back behind her and threw it at my chest as hard as she could. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't there anymore, having twisted at the waist and taken a half-step back the moment her limb had started to move forwards. I watched it slide past me with disinterest, noting the way her eyes widened as my left arm came up behind her and grabbed her shoulder.

Her bare stomach hit my desk a moment later as I threw her against it, but I didn't bother following up, instead taking another step back and away from her. "Those wind up punches only work if you've dazed your opponent first, or if they aren't looking at you. And even if it had struck, I don't think it would have done more than annoyed me."

"Asshole." She snarled, whirling towards me, her entire body glowing blue... the color cutting off as she stepped forwards and found my other hand holding my pistol directly into her face. "...Cieran?"

"I'm going to be an asshole, yeah." I spoke quietly, but also not lowering the weapon, "Remember when we reformed the Silver Blades, way the fuck back when? You were the worst at hand to hand, the worst shot, had the worst endurance, and you had the worst attitude to go with all of that. Your answer to _everything_ was your biotics. I didn't care at the time, because I was too busy being a grieving idiot to deal with someone who I thought was annoying at best, but I care now."

Her throat worked as she swallowed, both of her eyes locked onto the massive barrel hovering a few centimeters in front of her left eye.

"Here's the first rule. You use your biotics when we're training, I start using weapons. That's not going to end well for you." I very slowly pulled the hand cannon out of her face, putting the safety back on as I put it back into its holster. "You said it yourself, you're useless without them."

"This..." She sucked in a breath, "Fuck you. I'm not-"

"Hit me." I interrupted her.

Lips pulled back from teeth, and this time she launched herself at me with speed. Her right fist hit my chest hard enough to make me grunt, her left coming up at my face in a follow up. I batted it away at her wrist, then stepped into her and used my height and size to simply bullrush her back into the desk again, my left forearm jamming against her collarbone and throat.

"Better." I grunted as she snarled, trying to knee me in the groin but only hitting my hip. Her face scrunched in pain as I added more leverage, bending her backwards painfully over the wood, "Angry?"

She tried to spit at me, but could only choke as I shifted my arm.

"Jacqueline." I spoke her name as firmly as I could, shifting my feet to make sure that I wasn't fully pressing my body against hers, only my arm. "It's me."

Pure fury, and something like fear, ran across her face before she got it under control, her nose flaring as her breathing slowed from where it had approached hyperventilation. It took her a couple of seconds, but she blinked and jerked her head in something like a nod.

"I have no idea if anger helps with your biotic crap, but in a fist fight it doesn't do you much good. You're better off fucking using your brain." I told her, easing the pressure off slightly but keeping her pinned down. "You aren't stronger than me, you've got no leverage, so what do you need?"

She swallowed, visibly trying to calm her panicking breathing, and closed her eyes. A few long heartbeats later they opened in surprise, and then my hard-cover book slammed edge-on into my face and sent me stumbling away.

"Fucking..." I cursed, reaching up to rub at my cheek as she doubled over, her breathing still rapid. "Better. Real fight, go for the throat though."

There might have been a nod, but I could hear her words just fine. "You... are a fucking... suck teacher."

I snorted, bending down to grab my book from where she'd dropped it. It seemed intact, but she'd lost my page. I sighed and set it back onto the desk, "It's my first day, and my student is a bit of a stubborn bitch. Thought I had to shock her to get her to remember what she just fucking told me."

"Asshole." She muttered. "That crap... fucking brought back some shit memories..."

I winced, not looking at her. "I thought it might."

Silence came as even her breathing stopped, then she spoke very quietly in between soft gasps for air, "I don't want to face that shit. I don't care that you and Shepard both think I should."

I closed my eyes and sighed, "I'm not Shepard, Jacqueline. If you don't want to face or accept crap, I'm not going to try and talk you through it. That's your fucking choice and I don't like influencing or changing people unless they ask for the help."

Her swallow was audible, "Then why... the fuck do it? For a fucking moment... I almost thought..."

The fingers on my left hand twitched as pain washed around in my chest. "That's... a level of asshole I'll never go to, and to be honest I feel like shit for doing what I did... But I still did it because someday you might end up with someone actually pressing you against a desk, with a collar around your neck, and if you panic _then..._ shit won't end well for you. "

More silence. "Oh."

"You still want me to train you?" I asked softly. "I can almost guarantee you'll end up in situations that will bring back some more of those shit memories, and all you'll have is my word that it won't happen."

A hand, shaking slightly, rose up to rub at her face. Something like a sigh came out of it, then she spoke again. "Voya... she told me once that you could be drunk as shit, loaded on jump, and have gone without sex for a fucking year... and she still wouldn't be afraid to sleep naked in the same room as you. That even though you could be an asshole, you were also a chivalrous, weird-ass human who would fucking cut off your own dick before you did shit like what happened to us."

"I could have done without that mental image." I shook my head, "But I won't disagree with the sentiment."

Something almost like a snort came out of her nose. "Yeah... shit, let's do this crap, but... just warn me next time before we get into the heavy stuff, all right?"

"I will. My word."

There was a quiet grunt. "Right... shit, calisthenics first then?"

"That and improvised weapons." I waved a hand at my book, "Most fights that happen indoors have more crap around than just a single book and a few chairs, so we'll get you started on just grabbing whatever you can and hitting people with it."

She glanced up at me, "That shit works?"

"SIU bitch nearly knocked me out with a fucking frying pan on Xentha." I grimaced at the memory. "I smashed a pot over her head in retaliation. You never learned that kind of thing?"

Her shoulder twitched. "Sure, but I threw shit with biotics, I didn't try and brain people with them."

I crossed my arms as I thought, "Figure we'll start with getting your skinny ass back into shape, throw in the occasional improv session in along with some straight hand to hand. Once you get that down I'll start running you through how to use a pistol point blank... or are you still in love with shotguns?"

"No, pistols are fine. Shepard kind of..." She shook her head, "She said my aim sucked and that I didn't need to be hauling a heavy assed shotgun around if I was going to use my biotics all the time. Ran me through a bunch of stances to help work on my aim."

Mulling over that for a few breaths, I nodded slightly. I couldn't really fault the Spectre for her priorities. If I'd been the one to pick her up from Carastes, and wanted to help train her back then, I 'd have probably focused on her abysmal gunplay as well. "Guessing she had you run and gun the moment a nullifier went off?"

"Yeah, that or stick my ass into cover until the effect wore off." She grimaced, "Good advice for a brawl, but not if some fucker throws a collar around your neck."

"Yeah." I agreed. "We'll get started when we get back. For now, focus on what we'll be doing on Illium. We get Mirala, we get out. Justicar shows up, I use nullifiers and you use your biotics to throw them away. No killing unless you _absolutely_ have to."

Her grimace worsened, but she nodded, "All right. Should I stock up on those grenades too?"

"Probably a good idea. At least three." I nodded, "A few smoke grenades too, but leave the HE stuff behind."

"Right..." Jacqueline's throat worked as she swallowed, then glanced at the door. "Hey... thanks for... all of this."

"Don't thank me until I teach you something useful." I grimaced, "Especially after I pinned you against a desk like a jackass."

"It's... ugh, just fucking warn me before shit like that." Her head shook, "I'm out, going to get some sleep before we head out."

I watched her depart, the door closing behind her.

Shit, I probably shouldn't have started with such a brutal reminder that, without her biotics, she was a young woman who was five foot six at best, and might have weighed a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet... but she'd basically told me that was one of her problems, but then had wanted to skip right ahead to weapons and moves and crap. I'd needed something to remind her that she'd _always_ been crap at hand to hand, and that her time with Shepard hadn't apparently helped much. Shit... Illyan wouldn't have approved though, she'd have wanted me to deliver the reminder in a way less likely to dredge up horrible memories.

Would that have been better though? Pain and fear were excellent fucking teachers, something I knew all too well...

Reaching up, I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled. Athame's ass but I was going to fuck this up, I just knew it. I wasn't a goddess damned teacher. I was an asshole who'd almost given her a fucking panic attack.

"Shit." I muttered, pushing off from my desk. Considering how emotional she'd been, I probably shouldn't have left her go off alone.

I was about halfway to the door when it opened, Jacqueline re-emerging, her expression deliberately blank.

"You... want to get drinks or something?" She asked, her hands shoved into her pockets, but I could see the slight shaking in her right wrist. "Changed my mind about sleep."

"Yeah." I sighed, my shoulders slumping as I realized just how much I still owed her for the shit I kept doing. "I'll buy."

* * *

 **Silver Blades Communications Log**

 _Vasir, Shera: You've got a problem girl, they're splitting up. One's staying in Nos Astra, the other is taking her team to Irrail._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Athame's ass... nothing's ever simple. Will Cie get there before she does?_

 _Vasir, Shera: They just cleared the relay and are on approach... heh, changed their IFF to match an ore barge. Cute. He'll hit the ground at about the same time as they reach the city limits._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Dammit. Can you track them?_

 _Vasir, Shera: I'm already risking my life to tell you as much as I am._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Sorry, just... the last time we tangled with Justicars shit didn't end well._

 _Vasir, Shera: I'm don't want to know. I'm cutting out of this line before someone notices it. I'll keep doing what I can, but no promises._

 _*disconnected from I-Sec, Khar'shan Minor Headquarters*_

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Which one stayed?_

 _T'Soni, Liara: The good news is that Senior Justicar Samara remains in Nos Astra. The bad news is that Justicar Helyna is the one who will be arriving in Nos Irrail._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: ...who's she?_

 _T'Soni, Liara: She and Commander Kean fought in hand to hand on Benihi._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: ...oh shit._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 10: Deceptions**_

 _And here is the setup for the Mirala/Morinth rescue fight that will be occurring next chapter. Also Jack realizes that she's got some holes in her repertoire, and burns her favors with Cieran to hopefully fix them. And Cie... is trying, but he's going to be a work in progress for a while._

 _Next chapter should be a bunch of fun for everyone._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

GreaterGoodIreland - I do rather like Jack as well, and yeah, Cieran's relationship standards aren't exactly normal.

griezz - Wasea died way back in Terminus, otherwise Cie would have probably done everything he could to steal her away from the Eclipse instead of her daughter.

gods-own - There are far more than just a handful of Justicars, but they still aren't exactly an army. Maybe one per planet in the Republics (thought they hardly stay on one world), with as many as a dozen based on more populated planets, and a similar amount at each of the Ardat-Yakshi monasteries (of which there is far more than just one). When they need extra firepower I would imagine they could dragoon or conscript cops or commandos as needed from the Republic.

Legendary Junk Mail - Well, you've got Samara and the justicar from Benihi, he's going to end up fighting one of them, and Trena is probably going to have to deal with the other.


	14. Act 1-10: Deceptions

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act I: Consolidation**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Deceptions**

 _Date:_ 03-15-2185

 _Location:_ Nos Irrail, Illium, Terminus

* * *

"You know, when I was with the queen of the girl scouts," Jacqueline offered conversationally, "Not every fucking mission went to hell in a hand basket."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, exhaling heavily. "Jacqueline... not now. Illyan, you're sure about that?"

My Harath'krem's voice echoed from my omni-tool, " _Yeah boss, it's the same bitch. She and her commandos will be at the starport in a couple of minutes, someone already told her that you've landed."_

Nara grimaced, her upper eyes flicking around the hangar our shuttles had landed in. "Can we talk our way out?"

"If it was any other Justicar, probably." I exhaled. "We could pass ourselves as members of Nynsi's unit, but I didn't have a voice filter going on Benihi. Any easy way we could slip out of here?"

" _Not at the moment, the starport is already going into partial lockdown."_ Illyan replied, her voice tight. " _Only easy exits are the main doors and that will get you spotted in about five seconds. We can override some of the security measures, but I think we need to save that for when its time to get everyone out."_

"Agreed." I bit my lip for a long moment, all too aware that I didn't have much time to make a decision. "We're modifying plan three and rolling with it."

Nara grimaced, and Jacqueline muttered an oath under her breath, but it was Illyan who spoke up. " _You sure Cie?"_

"No, but we don't have time to adjust to anything else."

The Senior Captain nodded grimly, "I'll have this squad dispatched to get her, and confirm that the others are at point three. Do you want me to go with you?"

I shook my head once in the negative, "No, this is going to be a sprint, and you know Mirala. Go with so she's got a friendly face, but be careful when you get back. Assume at least a few commandos or security might try and get in here or stop you from leaving."

"Yes sir." Her head dipped, "We'll leave them alive and tied up if they do."

"Good." I nodded in turn. All three of the squads we'd brought with had heavily changed their loadouts for this particular mission, thanks to having access to an old slaver's den in what was now our enclave on Omega. Most of the weapons were... inhumane, even by my jaded standards, but they were designed to immobilize targets while leaving them alive, which is what we needed for this particular mission. "Right, Jacqueline, we're on flicker-fish duty, so let's pray to the goddess that the Eclipse did their part."

The woman's nose wrinkled as she pulled her helmet off of her belt, hauling it over her head. "Better fucking have, for how much you paid them."

Entirely agreeing with that sentiment, I got my own headgear in place, worked out the timing with Nara, and then got moving for the hangar exit. My partner for this particular suicide mission fell in beside me, our coats flicking around our armored ankles as we moved. People were already clearing out of the public complex, flooding in every direction. Some were heading towards the main exits and away from the hangars, while others were shoving and cursing as they fought to get to their ships.

Most of the former struck me as civilians uneasy at the Justicar's arrival, and deciding to get clear before any shooting started.

Most of the latter looked like the kind of Asari more worried that the Justicars were there for _them,_ and wanted to try and hide any incriminating materials on their vessels.

"So what the fuck is a flicker fish?" Jacqueline asked as we joined the general throng. For once our arrival was largely unaccompanied by staring or gawking, everyone having far more important things on their minds.

"Thessian fish." I supplied, checking the various signs as we moved. "When predators attack the school, some of them brighten their skin up and try and lure the attackers away."

There was a quiet snort, "Do I wanna know how that usually goes for them?"

"Probably not." I admitted, "Be ready with a flashbang and a barrier as soon as we hit the atrium, soon as we get their attention, we head for the taxi's."

"Which are..." She trailed off, clearly prompting me to fill her in.

I sighed as we followed the curving hallway, the crowd growing thicker as we neared the end of this terminal. "To our right. Do I have to add spatial awareness training as well? There's been a sign every ten meters or so."

"Fuck you." The words came as an almost embarrassed mutter before she raised her voice, "You got the nullifier then?"

"Yeah." My left hand fell to my belt, making sure that I had two of them ready to be primed and thrown.

We both fell silent after the short exchange, my only other preparation being to disable the safety on my pistol on the off chance I needed a concussive round to force someone the fuck away from me. My right hand stayed on its grip as we kept walking, reaching the entrance to the atrium after another minute or so.

The customs agent, a dusky old Matron, flinched visibly at the sight of us. A hand rose to wave us past without a comment before she rapidly departed from her station, tapping her coworkers on the shoulder as she not-quite-ran for an employee's only door. That, predictably, drew more attention to us, and soon enough we had a good five meters of space in every direction as people cleared the area.

 _"Reyja'krem, we're exiting the hangar."_ Nara's voice echoed in my helmet, " _Headed for the atrium."_

"Take your time." I replied grimly as we arrived in the room proper. We were up on the third floor of the room, looking down at the ground floor as Asari and aliens alike scattered before a red figure walking in through the front doors. "She just arrived."

The Justicar strode forwards, sans her helmet this time, ignoring the crowd and the half-dozen Commandos trailing behind her. As before, she had the bulky shape of a Disciple shotgun on her back, but no other firearm... not that she really needed another. Bypassing her, I flicked my attention to her support team and zoomed in my helmet's cameras, getting a slightly closer look at the Republic's finest. If it wasn't for the slight extension to their helmets, I'd have said they would fit right in with Miranda Lawson and the other Cerberus Operatives.

All were in black bodysuits, partially covered by the leathers their profession seemed to enjoy, and bore a sword on one hip and a pistol on the other. A few carried rifles in addition to that armament, while two others held shotguns. The last, and closest behind the Justicar, apparently disdained the extra weapon, but all of them had a variety of grenades on their belts.

Seven of them, all probably several times our combined ages, all armed and equipped with the latest in Republic technology. Time to start fighting unfairly then. An unprovoked attack wouldn't do shit for my public image... but anything else would certainly result in rather humiliating deaths.

Flicking my eyes lift, right, then up, I exhaled when I didn't see anything useable. "Move right, get your grenade in hand. You see that little balcony on the second floor?"

Her helmet shifted as she glanced down, casually following me as we used the crucial seconds before the new arrivals spotted us. "With the cafe? Yeah. Now?"

"...now." I confirmed, both of us throwing our bombs in the same moment. Hers went towards where I'd directed it, while my own sailed lazily through the air before plummeting towards the main level.

Hers detonated first in a flash of light and noise, screaming starting up almost at once as the civilians tried to understand what the fuck had just happened. Below them, the commandos reacted in a far more militant fashion. Four instantly surged forwards, throwing up protections around the Justicar and falling into a box protection scheme around her, while the other two flashed up to the second level to investigate.

My own grenade detonated a few seconds later, having fallen unnoticed in the confusion. The biotic shields shattered as more screaming started up from other locals who'd been trying to summon up their own personal protection. Our hunters reacted at once to losing their protection, sprinting into whatever cover they could find, drawing weapons and searching for targets.

As much as I didn't want to, I saved them the bother, drawing my pistol and slowing my pace to settle my aim.

The concussive round missed the Justicar, blowing apart a tiled mosaic built into the floor near her feet. Her, now helmeted, head snapped up and seemed to instantly locate me as I waved a hand at her.

"Time to run." I informed Jacqueline as I promptly broke into a sprint, the young woman cursing and accelerating in time with me.

Civilians and staff scattered out of our way as we ran, more shouting and pointing filling the air as they tried to figure out what in Athame's sacred name was happening. Thankfully none seemed inclined to try and stop us, which I took as a win.

We made it to the sliding doors that exited into the aircar lot around the same time as the Justicar's biotics returned, the red armored warrior appearing in a flash of blue light behind us. I was twisting around on reflex even as she surged forwards again, my right hand extending and shifting to the command gesture to release a submission net even as her biotic flash-step brought her within a meter of us, her weapon already up.

The burning strands of the net snapped around her, crackling with hellish power even as she went tumbling to the ground... but as before, she didn't scream in pain despite its effects. A guttural curse hissed out from her helmet as she hurled herself into a roll backwards, clearly expecting me to start shooting her while she was helpless.

As many problems as that would have solved, it would have caused a million more... but I had a moment and we needed her to follow us.

"Good to see you again." I called as I turned around, getting my ass moving again. "But I don't have the time for a date right now!"

" _You!_ " The word was practically a vicious oath, biotic light briefly appearing before the net's effects shocked her too badly to maintain her focus.

Rather than respond to that, I lengthened my strides and fled outside as quickly as they could carry me. Jacqueline hadn't slowed down for me, and she'd already cleared the area around a waiting taxi. The civilians around us seemed to be half-reacting appropriately, i.e. getting the fuck away, and half-reacting stupidly, gaping and staring in confusion.

Commandos appeared behind me in flashes of light even as I reached the car, two of them firing pistols at my back while a third dove for the Justicar and worked at getting the net off of her. Ignoring the shots splashing across my shields, I dove into the taxi as Jacqueline clambered into the other side, her hands slapping at the controls to get us airborne.

"Slow!" I reminded her even as a window blew out, making me flinch. "Make sure they can pursue!"

"I fucking know!" She snapped back, hauling on the controls to boost us off the ground. I was thrown back into my seat as the vehicle drunkenly responded, lurching upwards before slewing to one side. Jacqueline cursed frantically as she got it under control, leaving us hovering just above the grounds. "Shut up!"

Rather than comment, I grabbed at the seat-belt and got it around my waist before leaning out of my broken window.

Four commandos and the Justicar appeared in short order, even as my partner increased our altitude enough that they couldn't charge up to us. Two of the five started shooting while the others quickly located a ride of their own.

"Go!" I snapped, "South!"

Armored hands shoved at the controls as we abruptly accelerated away, our already battered ride carrying us towards downtown. While she focused on driving, and slowing just enough to make sure that we could pick out the vehicle... vehicle _s_ rising in pursuit, I got my omni-tool open and quickly ran a few scripts. The lights around us flickered as I overrode the car's VI, making sure the owning company couldn't just shut if off.

"I thought you said you could drive." I remarked about a minute into the chase, the wind through the broken window necessitating the use of helmet comms. "What the fuck was that?"

"I can fucking drive just fine." She growled, "Just been a while all right? And this thing's controls are fucking weird."

"Uh huh." I drawled, then flinched as something flickered past my window. Twisting my neck around, I pursed my lips as a sports-car drew a lot closer to us, the Justicar visible in the open back as the commando driver dove lower to give her a better shot. "Dive right!"

We promptly barrel-rolled and dove, Jacqueline's startled curse making it clear that she hadn't quite intended the maneuver to be that extreme. Still, it got us out of the way of the incoming fire, even if it did press me backwards as she frantically pulled us back into level flight.

"Right... right." She muttered, "Maybe its been longer than I thought."

"Just keep us alive." I grimaced as I considered our options. There must have been a regular parking lot to go with the taxi stand, which was an issue as she was pushing our battered ride as fast as its engine would allow. The plan had relied on us getting far out of the city entirely, and I didn't see how we'd manage that before we took a bad hit and fell a very long way.

Shit.

"Dive." I snapped after a few breaths of furious thought, "Keep us low to the ground, and head west."

We promptly dove again, this one slightly more controlled as she hauled back and sent us roaring along about fifty meters from the rooftops below. "Plan?"

"We need a new ride." I replied, bringing my omni-tool up and running a quick search based on some very old algorithms. "Come on... got you. Uploading the address."

Her head shifted a little as she looked at it through her visor, "...what the shit? A mansion?"

"We need an armored ride." Something slammed hard into the back of our current vehicle, making both of us flinch. "Trust me, we'll have options there."

Jacqueline offered a quiet curse as the engine made a fluttering sound before humming back to full life, throwing us into a quick right bank as she headed for the coordinates I'd pinpointed. It was close, thank the goddess, and it was barely a minute before I saw the sprawling building surrounded by the artificial ponds and rivers favored by Asari with more money than sense.

And, thankfully, the building had a pair of exterior landing platforms complete with several parked aircars.

She brought us down hard on the nearer of the platforms, our battered ride skidding violently along the metal and sending up a shower of sparks as it spun around. The move left our barely intact engine to block the entrance to the platform.

"You do that on purpose?" I asked a little breathlessly, scrambling out of the car.

"Of course I fucking did." Her cocky reply was betrayed by the slight tremor in her voice, "What car?"

"That one." I jerked my chin at the nearer vehicle, a dark blue luxury model.

We made it there at the same time as our pursuit caught up, the Justicar leaping out of her car to slam onto the platform in a haze of biotic power. Above, her driver stayed airborne, circling the grounds and probably screaming her head off for I-Sec and the rest of her team to show up.

"You." The Justicar repeated her earlier curse as I motioned for my partner to get the car started. Her movement went ignored by the red armored Asari, her attention entirely locked on me as I casually moved closer to her. "I should have known."

I dipped my head slightly, drawing my pistol with my right hand but leaving my left on a grenade. "Are we going to talk or fight? I have a demon to pick up and I don't have the-"

A slight bit of tension in her frame was the only warning that I had before she charged towards me, the bow-shock hammering at my barriers even as I ducked, flinging myself down and to the right to avoid the roaring Disciple. My counter-shot was a concussive round that slammed into her own barriers, a nullifier dropping at my feet as I surged towards her.

The soft _crack_ went ignored as the Justicar dropped her unwieldy weapon, seizing my right wrist with a hand and twisting her her body to keep me from shooting her at point blank range. I let out a breathy curse, rolling with the motion to stop her from dislocating anything, and flicked my left war-gauntlet to life before hammering her in the gut.

A heavy exclamation tore out of her own throat, her grip failing as I hauled my right arm free. Before I could even think of shooting her in the leg, or using a concussive round to blast her away, a pair of impossibly high kicks hammered at my head and neck before a third struck my stomach and drove me backwards.

Athame's ass but I'd forgotten just how _fast_ the little bitch was. I only just got my left arm up in time to block kick number four, stutter-stepping to my right and kicking at her Disciple to get it farther away. My opponent used the temporary distraction to rush forwards, bobbing and weaving as her biotics began to flicker back to life. Her punch combined with a biotic push, my shields unable to deflect the power delivered directly to my body, and I stumbled back as she called up more power to properly hammer me now that she had space to work.

Thankfully, Jacqueline hadn't been idle while I'd been fighting, and the Justicar's head snapped to the right as an oversized aircar engine roared to life. She'd barely turned before she flung herself to the ground to avoid being crushed as Jacqueline spun our new vehicle around, slewing the front end through the space she'd just occupied.

I didn't waste anytime before throwing myself through the open passenger door, hauling it shut as the car abruptly rocketed upwards. The commando in her sports-car tried to block us, but she'd been at the farthest point of her circle and we flicked past in a blur of metal.

"Holy shit this thing moves!" Jacqueline gasped even the car spun slightly, bouncing me off the ceiling with a curse. She managed to stabilize us when we were about a kilometer up, slowing our breakneck rush into something that would let the Justicar catch up again. "Who the fuck owns it?"

"Dantius. Rich family, complete and total assholes." I gasped as I managed to get myself situated, "Was just a guess, but they seemed like the types to have armored cars to shuttle goons around. And even if they didn't, they've got so much cash that an overpriced car with more speed than is necessary is probably their standard purchase."

Something like a cackle came out of her throat, "Fucking awesome."

I snorted, getting my omni-tool up to run my override routines again before glancing back and grimacing at the sight of a bulkhead instead of a rear window. "The pursuit?"

She fiddled with a few controls on the console, a small screen in the center flicking to show an one hundred and eighty degree view behind us. "...there, that's the Justicar's ride. Think that little thing is the rest of the commandos playing catchup."

"Good." I exhaled, "Keep us just ahead, and get to point three."

"Yeah yeah, I got it." Came the reply as she adjusted the throttle again, slowing us up some more before briefly accelerating, acting as if our engine wasn't running properly and making sure that the idiots chasing us didn't decide to abandon the hunt. "You know, I thought you were a badass, but that bitch was handling you."

"She's a fucking Justicar." I replied, rolling my shoulders a bit. I didn't feel all that bad really, not in comparison to how I'd expected to after taking a biotic strike to the chest. My implants and sub-dermal weaves were apparently proving their worth. "She probably started doing this crap around when _conquistadors_ were still a thing."

Her helmet shifted to let her stare at me. "...where the fuck did that comparison come from?"

"Erana's latest book is on sailing tactics." I shrugged, "Comparison between Human and Asari, we like to talk about what she reads over dinner."

"Fucking nerds." The words were a mutter. "Could you take her? The Justicar I mean, if you wanted to kill her?"

I grimaced and ran a few mental comparisons. After about thirty seconds of that, I shook my head. "I might get her one in four, one in five times depending on how angry she lets herself get. She's faster and more aggressive than any other Asari I've ever seen fight, except maybe Vasir. My only real advantage is her attachment to that Disciple and her lack of a backup gun. But all of that's in a straight up, one on one fight."

There was a soft snort, "Meaning it would never fucking happen."

"Meaning it would never fucking happen." I agreed easily, checking the rear-view again and noting our pursuit. No I-Sec cars had joined them, which didn't surprise me overmuch. The Sederis family mansion and Eclipse headquarters complex might have been in Nos Astra, but it was Nos Irrail that was the real 'capital' of the corporation's empire. Nothing major ever occurred within the city without Jona's approval, and it wouldn't surprise me if the local I-Sec agents hadn't sabotaged their own communications grid as an excuse to not get involved.

"Slow up a bit more." I murmured, bringing my omni-tool online, "Illyan? We're headed towards point three, we've got the red armored bitch and at least a few of her commandos following us."

" _Four of them."_ She confirmed promptly, " _The other two stayed behind and tried to intercept Thui's team."_

Said Batarian woman promptly joined the conversation, " _I have three wounded, one seriously, but everyone's alive. I don't believe they expected our numbers; both Commandos are unconscious and enjoying some rest in a service closet."_

I snorted. "Nice work. Mirala?"

" _I'm landing at her safehouse now."_ Nara informed me, " _We should be back at the shuttle and gone in twenty."_

Illyan cleared her throat, " _More good news boss. Aya checked in at point three, both teams are ready and waiting to give your friends a reception. On top of that, Trena just reported in, the other Justicar just bailed on her pursuit of them and commandeered a heavy shuttle."_

"Heading our way then." I mused, "We should be long gone before she gets here. Trena and the others heading back to the _Reliant?"_

" _Yeah,_ " I could easily imagine her nod, " _I'm about to catch my own ride up as well."_

"Good, fly safe. Nara, send a confirmation when you're headed for orbit."

" _Yes sir."_ She replied before the line cut out

Jacqueline let out a groan as she sank back in the driver's seat, "Finally some good news. Thought you never got any."

"It's rare." I admitted, not wanting to taunt Athame, or the universe, by offering thanks or anything else that would certainly guarantee that the good news would abruptly end.

We fell into silence as we flew, leaving the glittering spires of the city's downtown district. She let them catch up a bit more as we bobbed and weaved between the massive cargo haulers descending and rising from the massive weapons factories that fueled Sederis's war-machine, then brought us back down to roof-top flight as we raced across the suburbs surrounding the city proper.

Fifteen minutes later we were roaring above lush forests, and approaching the coordinates that marked the rendezvous point for plan three.

" _Cieran._ " Nara's voice was frustrated as she contacted us, " _Status?"_

"We're a minute out." I informed her, "If you've got Mirala we can skip the fighting stage and just bail in the shuttles."

" _I don't have her, she was badly wounded at some point and is currently unconscious."_ A hissing sigh punctuated her words, " _And her sisters are hysterical and don't want us to move her."_

"Her _what!?"_ I all but shouted, and our car nearly slammed into the trees as Jacqueline swore in surprise at my sudden volume.

 _"She was more successful than she claimed."_ The Senior Captain replied grimly. " _Two of them."_

My fists clenched in pure frustration, "Tell them we're risking our fucking lives to get them out, and that they have five minutes before you leave without them."

" _Did you hear that?"_

 _"Yes._ " A young, shaking voice replied. " _But she's-"_

"We have doctors on our ship." I cut in.

" _It's not that."_ She replied hesitantly, " _She's hurt, she might try and-"_

Oh son of a fucking bitch. "Then the two of you need to stay with her and make sure she's calm when she wakes up. Right now we _have_ to move. I can delay one Justicar, but if the other realizes you aren't out here she'll be all over you."

" _I..."_

 _"We're picking her up._ " Another unfamiliar Asari cut in as Jacqueline hauled back on the controls, our car slowing to a sharp hover above a small clearing in the woods. A large resort home lurked quietly beneath us, complete with two shuttles marked with the Silver Blade nearby. " _We'll get her out and stay with her."_

"Good." I snapped, "Nara, move her as fast as you can. We'll disable this team but then we've got to boost off."

" _Confirmed."_ She replied, cutting the link.

"Guess I spoke too soon." Jacqueline muttered as we landed, both of us throwing our doors open.

"Yes." I muttered in reply, bailing out. Athame's fucking ass, I'd thought we actually had a chance of just escaping without having to take the bitch on again... so much for that. "Aya! Behit!"

"Sir!" A Batarian woman stepped out from the treeline, her dark armor partially covered by a camouflage coat, the fabric rippling as it tried to mirror what was around her. "We're setup in the treeline!"

"Good!" I shouted back, already moving in her direction. "They'll be here in sixty seconds at most, one Justicar and four commandos!"

"Confirmed!" She shouted back, "Behit, you good for plan one?"

A flanging Turian voice replied at once, the male calling from his own position. "Confirm one, everyone stay in place and wait for the signal!"

Quiet clicks promptly echoed from my helmet's speakers as their people confirmed their readiness. Jacqueline and I reached the treeline about fifteen seconds ahead of the sports-car's landing, the commando bringing it down hard beside our own, maximizing the cover that she had as she bailed out on that side. The Justicar, evidently disdaining such petty things as cover, simply vaulted out on our side and thrust a hand forwards.

Jacqueline let out a breath curse and threw up a curtain barrier just as the shockwave tore outwards, gouging massive chunks of earth from the ground before hammering the dome of light and the trees around us.

"Concussives!" I shouted in the wake of the explosion of noise from the biotic collision, bringing my weapon up.

"Volley in sequence!" Aya ul Vessen called out in turn, "Now!"

The Justicar had drawn up short at the extra voice, then let out an audible oath as concussive rounds began to hammer at her protection. Each shot came in a steady sequence, a continuous barrage, and she had to throw up a hand to summon her own barrier.

That lasted until Jacqueline, not needing any order, hefted up a nullifier of her own and before hurling it with her biotics. The crack of its detonation came at the same time as the seventh impact hammered the red armored body, slamming her back against her car. The Justicar, being who she fucking was, somehow managed to turn that momentum to her advantage, kicking off and back-flipping her way into the vehicle to avoid two more quick shots.

She re-appeared, briefly, falling back to the other side of the vehicles as the Commando appeared, firing a quick burst from her rifle to cover the Justicar's temporary retreat before they both shifted to use Dantius's better armored car for cover.

Behit promptly called out for suppressing fire, ten carbines barking harshly as they worked to keep the targets pinned down. Two flash-bangs were flung out, plus another nullifier, only to be deftly hurled up into the air by the Asari to detonate harmlessly away from them.

We remained in that awkward stand off for about a minute before the rest of the commandos arrived.

I'd give them credit for having massive quads. Rather than land near their allies, they simply leaped from their commandeered vehicle while it was still above the treeline. The car promptly shot off into the distance, likely to crash harmlessly in the forest, while the four Asari used their biotics to survive their descent, crashing to the ground within our lines.

And then things got complicated, the Justicar promptly hurling herself forwards along with her companion, and our neat defensive plan went straight to the deeps.

I, unfortunately, didn't have any time to help anyone else, since the red armored bitch came straight after me once again.

She'd learned from her past mistakes, charging to a spot two meters to my left to prevent me from simply netting her again, firing her weapon as she emerged from the movement. The specialized shot hit me on my left side, my coat's shields shorting out instantly even as my armor's plummeted to fifty percent.

An overload streaked out from my tech launcher in retaliation, the mine ripping at her own protection as I got my legs moving, catching only a partial piece of her second shot, while her third tore into a tree. Mines two and three whirled out in arcs, catching her even as she broke into a fast run to match my movement, both of us entirely ignoring the chaotic melee and shouts of pain occurring elsewhere in the forest.

That worked to my favor more than hers, since I had more allies than she did.

A hammer-blow of raw physical force slammed into the Justicar the moment her back was aligned with another tree, Jacqueline's over-strength push easily tearing through what barriers the Asari had left before hurling her into the wood.

Snapping my right arm up, I immediately triggered a submission net, only to curse as she let herself drop to her stomach to avoid it. The crackling strands promptly snapped around the tree, the Justicar bouncing to her feet before blurring into another charge aimed at me.

Dropping my pistol, I barely got my gauntlets online and up to protect my neck and head before the bow-shock hit me, her Disciple roaring again to shatter half of the gleaming tech plates around my forearms.

Snarling, I stepped forwards and threw a quick feinting jab with my right hand, then snapped my left up in a cross that exploded against her shotgun and flung it from her hands. Warpfire immediately surrounded her own hands and forearms in _ludicrous_ display of biotic control; a mocking parody of my technological weapon.

She moved first, one of her fists flicking towards my face as she moved in, trying to use her smaller size to get inside my gangly arms. I batted her limb away, careful to make sure that my tech plates took the blow, and stepped backwards to try and keep the range as I stayed on the defensive. Our limbs became quick blurs of motion as we threw punches and counters, my efforts hampered by her speed, her efforts hampered by my reach.

I held her off for nearly twenty seconds, but it was a losing fight and I knew it. My gauntlets couldn't keep up the power draw of reforming the plates every time she shattered them indefensibly, where she seemed to have no issues maintaining her localized power. Worse, I could risk grabbing for a grenade, even that fast motion would leave me with only one arm to block her two.

Assistance came in the form of Unit Leader Behit, the Turian abruptly appearing behind the Justicar as he whirled a slaver's bola at her legs. She'd been overfocused on me, and the attack came as a surprise. The chain whipped around her legs before automatically tightening and locking itself so tightly as to make her snarl in pain.

Her balance wavered, and I gave her a hard blow to her right shoulder to send her over. Behit promptly dropped a nullifier, then grabbed a slave collar from his belt. It still took two of us to wrestle the flailing bitch, holding her in place long enough to get it and a pair of cuffs in place around her wrists.

"Status." I gasped as we finished, stepping back. Implants or no, I was beyond exhausted, and pain had begun to radiate up my arms. A quick glance down confirmed that I had even more biotic burns, likely from each time she'd managed to break my protection.

"All five commandos subdued." The Turian panted in turn, his hands on his waist as he audibly gasped for air. "Nine wounded, no dead yet."

Athame's ass, we'd outnumbered them four to one, known the ground, had biotic suppressants and capture weapon ready... and they'd still wounded nearly fifty percent of the combat veterans I'd brought with.

"Get everyone to the shuttles." I managed, waving a hand. "Jacqueline? You alive?"

"Yeah." The woman's voice was an annoyed growl as she stomped in my direction, one of her hands rising to show me that she'd grabbed my pistol from where I'd dropped it. "Fucking everyone was throwing nullifiers around, couldn't do shit apart from that one throw."

I grunted. Dammit, I was too used to working Shyeel and Illyan, neither of whose fighting styles was overly reliant on their biotics. I should have had her move into the house and then emerge when the fighting started, to hit them from behind with her power intact.

Lesson learned.

"You are an abomination before the goddess." The Justicar hissed through her helmet, breaking me from my musings. "I will see justice done upon you."

I glanced down at her, shaking my head tiredly. "Benihi? Everyone in that mansion was indoctrinated."

There was an almost startled pause. "You claim that Matriarch T'Ravt's daughter and entourage were corrupted as Matriarch T'Soni was?"

"Slightly different, but essentially." I replied, "You might want to look into T'Ravt herself, and correlate her actions against an old RI case on humans being mentally assaulted."

Her helmet remained locked onto mine as the sounds of movement grew louder, Aya and Behit getting their wounded over to the shuttles. We wouldn't have long, not if the other Justicar had commandeered a full shuttle, but if I could cause a little more havoc for the Matriarch I would.

"I may do so." The Justicar allowed after several long breaths of thought. "But I will still hunt you."

"He just fucking said why he did that shit." Jacqueline snapped, "Those fuckers were better off dead."

"Likely, and those who I have spoken with on this planet say that your word is good." She nodded as best she could, "Which is why I believe that you believe what you say. Perhaps those deaths were a mercy rather than violations... but your other actions must be answered for."

I stared down, then exhaled. "News said they survived."

"Their survival is irrelevant against the action, the attempt was made by your hand, by your conscious decision."

"I wanted to survive." I replied simply.

"At the cost of two innocent lives?" She challenged back, "Who may have died a thousand years too young, simply so that _you_ could survive? And now you unleash three demons upon the galaxy, three who might consume hundreds more before they are stopped."

There... wasn't much I could say to the first, so I forced myself to focus on the second. "I'm unleashing _nothing_. Mirala is one of my people, and she will obey my rules. Her sisters will be the same."

There was a dark snort. "Foolish, primitive ape. No one can control a demon once she has been set free. They _will_ kill. They _will_ consume. It is what they are."

"They will die if they harm any of mine." I replied, turning my back on her, entirely done with the conversation. "And that _isn't_ what they are. I'll see you by and by, Justicar."

She offered nothing more as I walked away, Jacqueline silently skipping to keep up as we departed the woods.

The shuttles were already online, hovering just above the grass as the last members of the squads piled inside. I headed for the nearer of the two and hopped in, reaching back absently to grab Jacqueline's arm and haul her up as the pilot got us slowly into motion.

" _Reliant_ this is Kean." I spoke as I moved to an empty seat near the front, dropping into it in a quiet clatter of armored plating. "Justicar one and her team are down but alive, sitrep."

Joa's voice came through strong a moment later, " _Three demons are coming aboard right now Cie. Nara had to put a collar on your old friend though, and tranq her. She woke up... wrong."_

I closed my eyes and exhaled, the Justicar's words echoing in my head. "Put her into surgery for whatever is wrong, but keep her collared. Let her sisters stay at her side but keep them under guard as well."

" _Suppress them too?"_

"No!" I snapped, then sucked in a breath as everyone in the shuttle turned in surprise. Forcing myself to relax, I shook my head. "No. Not unless they give you a reason to do so. Treat them as our guests, but remind them of the rules that Mirala has to live under."

 _"...got it."_ She replied after a long moment. " _We're ready to move out as soon as you arrive. Lot of political crap already going down according to Sederis and Shaaryak."_

That didn't surprise me. "Let me guess, the Omega detachment isn't going to be welcome on Illium anytime soon?"

" _I don't think it will go quite that far, the lack of casualties is already working in your favor."_ Joa audibly shrugged, " _And face it Cie, you're awful popular in Nos Astra. Sederis says the Board is probably going to hit you with a temporary exile, maybe a couple of months, and some kind of fine that they'll pass off to Thessia."_

I grunted, "The Republic's response?"

A heavy sigh preceded her words. _"Who fucking knows... the Republic's politics are a mess right now, it might be a few months before they even bring this crap up in a committee. Good news is that the Council isn't likely to follow up on that; the Horizon contract going public has the Turians and the Humans too relieved to do much against you."_

In a twisted way, I could see that. The Traverse was increasingly going to shit, on top of the Hegemony self-destructing, and both were massive problems for the Alliance and their colonial zone in the Verge. Smaller pirates who didn't want to answer to the consolidating Terminus Warlords were flooding into the region, along with deserters from the Hegemony who didn't want to support either side, and all of them were joining up with the pirates and cutthroats who already worked that stretch of space.

My corporation being publicly hired to protect the largest human colony in the area was probably a massive relief for Udina and the AIS. As much as none of them probably liked me directly, they'd probably tolerate me if I could bring some measure of stability to the area. And anything that freed up more of their ally's ships was something that the Turians would probably support.

And Tevos... I sighed. "I'm going to owe Aria a favor, aren't I?"

" _Probably. You might want to make it two favors, get our license back into the approval process."_ She replied bluntly. " _Will make crap easier."_

"I'll think about it." I shook my head, "We'll be up in a bit."

" _Confirmed, Reliant out."_

"Shuttle...whatever number this is, out." My hands came up as the line ended, yanking my helmet off. I grimaced a little as I caught sight of all of the wounded, sitting or laying as appropriate, their squadmates tending to them. "Everyone all right?"

"We'll all make it sir." Aya ul Vessen spoke up at once, her head raising from where her hands were carefully applying a patch to a young Batarian man's chest. She'd declined a cybernetic replacement for her lost eye, instead leaving a simple eye patch to cover where her lower left orb had once been. "We used all of our nullifiers however."

"Equipment is replaceable, lives aren't." I replied, shaking my head once. "Don't ever worry about that kind of crap."

Her skin flushed a little, "Yes sir."

Voya's voice echoed in my head, and I sighed a little before glancing to my left. Jacqueline groaned as she settled into the seat beside me, kicking her legs out and ripping her own headgear free.

"Well, that was fun." She muttered, letting her bald head fall back. "Good to be reminded I'm just a punk bitch with a pistol when anti-biotic crap is flying around. When are we starting?"

I sighed at the predictable question, closing my eyes as I let my own head shift backwards to rest against the wall. "Jacqueline... not now, please. I'm trying to think of how to politely threaten two young women with death if they eat any of our people. And what to do about an old friend who apparently isn't in control of herself."

There was an almost hesitant pause, "Oh. Right, that... demon stuff."

"Yeah." I exhaled through my nose. Athame's fucking azure but I had no idea what I was going to do about any of them. Mirala I had a working relationship with, and she was someone I even considered a friend... I really, really didn't want to have to kill her if she couldn't control herself.

But neither did I want to have to let her consume someone either... and her sisters. Fuck but one of them sounded young, and the other might not have been much older. Maidens probably, who might have been in their monastery for the goddess knew how long. Now they were coming with to _Omega,_ with all of its dark attraction and decadence. Making sure neither of them ate anyone, or ended up dead, was going to be a nightmare unto itself.

"Um..." Jacqueline offered, her voice almost silent before fingers wrapped around my left wrist. I glanced down to find the fingers shaking slightly, and I exhaled as I quickly formed a fist to keep them from moving.

It wasn't an attack, my heartbeat remained even and my thoughts were clear... which meant I was coming down from the stims I'd taken to replace the sleep I hadn't gotten on the trip from Omega to Illium. The exhaustion crept upwards along with the realization, the chemicals no longer preventing my body from telling my brain just how fucking tired it really was.

A quick glance up confirmed that no one else seemed to have noticed, their attention on their wounds or each other.

"You... all right?" She asked the question oddly, as if she wasn't quite sure if that was how the words went.

"Yes." I offered quietly, forcing out a steadying breath. "We'll put together a training plan as soon as we get back to Omega."

Brown eyes narrowed as I glanced at her, her head shifting as she flicked a quick look around before her voice lowered further. "Bullshit. I know drug trips, what the fuck are you taking?"

My head twitched in a single negative. "Nothing you have to worry about, just something to keep me awake."

Her lips scrunched a little, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. After a long few moments she averted her attention, letting her head rock back once more as she let out a ragged exhalation.

I sighed, turning away as well, and let my own body relax.

Sleep found me almost at once, for the single glorious hour it took to reach the _Reliant..._ where I had to wake up and deal with the walking crisis that was better known as Mirala.

* * *

 **Silver Blades Communications Log**

 _Voya'chi: How is he sleeping?_

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Both better and worse since Ghai got that recording for him. He's about to five hours with it going, but..._

 _Voya'chi: You can't be in there._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: No... Athame's ass, I nearly had a panic attack during it the first time._

 _Voya'chi: It may be disturbing but at least it lets him get some sleep without chehala or drugs. Or you._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Yeah, I guess. I mean... shit. Things are still kind of awkward between us right now._

 _Voya'chi: Shocking._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Oh shut it. Point is that he's doing a little better since Jack told Ghai that he'd been taking stims again._

 _Voya'chi: Jack?_

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Never expected her to be the one to turn him in like that, but she's... weird around him. He's the only one who can call her Jacqueline now._

 _Voya'chi: Oh keelah, please tell me she isn't..._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: I don't think she's crushing on him. I asked T'Soni, and she said that Shepard meant a lot to her, helped get her through some of what happened... and then she went off and got killed. Cieran's kind of fallen into the same mentor role, and I think she's paranoid that he's about to die on her too._

 _Voya'chi: Let's hope so. He really doesn't need more emotional shit right now._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: ...thank you for making me feel more like crap._

 _Voya'chi: You're welcome._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: ...how's Shyeel, and everyone else?_

 _Voya'chi: We're fine, we still aren't telling you about our sex life, and you can tell Cie that we should be done training up the new team in three or four months. Should be good to join him right after the Theodosius meeting._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: He'll be happy, at least. How are the brothers?_

 _Voya'chi: ...still madly enamored with each other except when I am present. Haro has already had dinner with the family, several times. Both are apparently trying to decide who is going to quit to join the other's organization._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Haro you think?_

 _Voya'chi: More practical for him to depart, yes, but Magnus may be able to acquire a posting in Asariel upon his graduation._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Good for them. Haro still too scared to ask for your approval?_

 _Voya'chi: Not that he needs it, but yes. It is becoming quite amusing._

 _T'Donna, Illyan; You're torturing them and enjoying it... that's so very you. Have to go, we're getting ready for the expansion push and I have to supervise Thui to make sure she doesn't get adventurous._

 _Voya'chi: Tell Jacqueline to call me when it's over._

 _T'Donna, Illyan: Sure._

* * *

 _ **End Act I: Consolidation**_

 _And just barely in time before the hiatus begins, Act One concludes. I'll admit it was a little scatter-shot, my original outline was for a Vengeance style Operation-Interlude format, but I didn't feel like I lost any content by simply cutting things down and merging the interludes into the actual chapters or events._

 _Once I'm done with my initial... or second or third playthroughs of Andromeda, we'll be back with Act II: Councils. It will be, as I've said, six chapters long and from a secondary point of view (Ghai's to be specific, kudos to those who guessed correct). It will take place entirely during the second Warlord's council on Theodosius, meaning a time skip of four months. Cieran's mental health and the political dynamics of both the Citadel and Terminus will be the major foci._

 _Then we'll be into Act III: Conquistadors_

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 ** _Quick note; while I'm on hiatus, I will still be active on the AR forums, and will be responding to this chapter's reviews there._**

* * *

 ** _Review Responses:_**

MichaTheRehabLurker - Lol, I don't think he'll go with Grasshopper... might come up with a nickname, or just keep going with the full Jacqueline.

The Invisible Pretender - This version of Jack is in a very odd place. She's already been with Shepard, for a while, so she picked up some things during that timeframe... but then Shep went and died on her, and then Cie saved her, and now crap is complicated.

tmroc725 - Strange Bedfellows remains 'AU' for... reasons. :P

5 Coloured Walker - That bit was supposed to be as fun to read as it was to write. Was originally going to do the full thing, then I realized that Cie and Leska just aren't the type of people to waste their time when they both know how its going to go.

dekuton - Cieran learns from his mistakes; as Voya reminded him in Einherjar, there can't be another Rane'li. He would either accept the feelings or shut things down before they got to that point.

Marcusss - Hardshells... huh. Original, will say that much.


	15. Act 2-1: Best Laid Plans

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act II: Councils**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Best Laid Plans**

 _Date:_ 07-11-2185

 _Location:_ Basil, Theodosius, Theodosian System, Attican Traverse

* * *

 **Operatic Memory**

 _Ghai T'Laria_

" _So."_ My former partner asked across the vidscreen, " _How's the old Blue Sun capital?"_

I pursed my lips a little, sinking back into my hotel room chair. We'd arrived fashionably early, though later than most of the others, which meant we were stuck playing nice with less than savory company while also keeping our gaze on the horizon for any obvious Citadel agents.

"Drab." I replied finally, keeping my voice low to avoid straining my throat. "Hectic."

Iyate sighed a little, rolling her eyes theatrically as she lounged further into her couch. She was as attractive as ever, with numerous surgeries having corrected her looks after the burns she'd suffered protecting Xerol, and she remained vain enough to enjoy showing herself off even despite her advancing age... though at least she was wearing clothes today.

" _Ghai, love."_ Her head shook, " _You told me you were going to have that crazy Salarian repair your cords."_

I rolled a shoulder, "Lied."

" _Of course you did._ " There was another sigh. " _You need to stop flagellating yourself. Even our lives are short enough, your little mate deserves to hear you sing."_

My eyes narrowed a little. "Trena."

A snort. " _Throttle down love, I'm not about to disturb those waters, not when I'm shacking up with a human boy."_

I grunted quietly, a little mollified. "Pleasant?"

A wicked grin appeared on her face, " _He's a pretty little thing, and so innocent. I'm enjoying... teaching him."_

"Corrupting." I corrected, but I smiled a little as I said it.

" _What's the difference?"_ Her own smirk remained for a few heartbeats before fading, " _How is work?"_

My own smile faded as it became time to talk business rather than pleasure. "Tense."

Her eyes narrowed a little, " _You can't give me more than that?"_

"No." I replied simply. "Unsecured."

That drew a real grimace onto her features. " _This line is secure. Goddess but the Broker paid enough to make sure that it was."_

Which was entirely true. Aethyta had gone more than out of her way to 'acquire' my old partner as one of her few agents on the Citadel, and had no qualms about throwing down tens of thousands of credits to make sure that she was able to converse freely without having to worry about anyone else listening in. Then again... that didn't mean much on the Citadel, given that there was usually a dozen or more Spectres present at any given time, and the goddess alone knew how many intelligence teams.

And Iyate wasn't so stupid as to not know that, she was protesting entirely for form to make sure that the 'Broker' knew that she'd made the attempt.

"Perhaps." I played my part, simply rolling a shoulder in a shrug, "Not talking."

There was a theatrical sigh and a small shake of her head. " _You know, I'm about to give you a bunch of critical information, the least you could is pay me back."_

In response, I lifted a hand and tugged at the neck of my shirt, pulling it down just a little. "Show?"

She rolled her eyes, but the easy smile came back. " _Next time we're all on Illium, I want a threesome."_

"Deal." I let go and leaned back further into my chair, waiting patiently.

Iyate leaned out of view for just a moment, then came back with a small tablet in her hands. A cheap model, probably intended to be destroyed the moment this call ended. " _Right. You've got five Spectres headed into the Traverse. Three frogs, a bird, and one of us. All but the bird are on intelligence ops, and are mostly acting as some muscle for the STG teams already working the region."_

I grunted, already having a good idea as to who her new toy worked for. "Few."

" _I know, I thought at least twice that many would be heading out, but a lot of their agents are busy."_ She rolled a shoulder in a shrug, " _Birds are still dealing with the fallout from Sovereign's attack, and some Volus splinter-faction. Republic bitches are trying to get a handle on the intel war between the Matriarch and my boss, and the frogs are all hot and bothered about something on Sur'kesh."_

My eyes narrowed into a frown. "What?"

" _No idea._ " She admitted freely. " _Maybe another of their mad science experiments blew up in their faces, or maybe that ark ship they were building was attacked by someone. It's the damned frogs, they don't let any news out if they can help it."_

Which was true enough. Getting any relevant news out of a Salarian was an exercise in futility during the best of times, and you were best off not bothering if it was obvious they didn't want to actually tell you anything. "Turian?"

Teeth appeared. " _She's coming to visit your boss."_

My mouth went dry, "Define."

 _"Her official orders are to correlate whether or not your corporation is supporting order in the Traverse, as your media heads keep saying,"_ Another shrug, " _Or if you're just looking to exploit things and setup protection rackets."_

I forced my tongue out to lick my lips, wetting them slightly as I furiously thought on the subject. "Justicar."

Iyate's grin widened. " _Yeah, that red bitch talked. Part of Spectre Atia Severa's job is also to evaluate your boss and deal with him appropriately."_

Well...shit. At least it was a Turian Spectre, a conversation might be... wait. Why was a _Turian_ being sent at all? And to evaluate him instead of simply killing him for what had happened on Benihi and then Illium? Someone was playing a game... and that someone wasn't known for doing so.

"Sparatus." I murmured softly. "Learning."

" _I know."_ She practically gushed, " _Goddess, you should have seen Tevos's face when she realized how he'd set it all up. It was like he'd just rammed into her ass right there."_

That was a mental image I hadn't needed, and I rubbed at my nose to banish it and the question as to how she'd been watching their reactions during a Spectre assignment. If she'd convinced or tricked her human lover into wearing a camera into that meeting, his lifespan was probably measured in days at this point... if not hours. Not that either would really bother her. "How?"

 _"I'll tell you the details later, but Udina supported him, and they made it clear that the Elcor... whatever its name is, would support it as well. That left her stuck just going along with shit."_ Her almost lustful grin faded quickly, " _Still, you might want to be careful. The Justicars have already petitioned the Council of Matriarchs to override the Assembly to let them send someone after him."_

Dammit... dammit, dammit, dammit. Things were starting to move too quickly across the galaxy, and doing so far in advance of when we'd though shit would break down.

About the only thing we had going for us was the dual nature of Thessia's government, with the Republic's Assembly not being nearly as eager for conflict as the Council of Matriarchs was, to the point where the latter couldn't get enough support to force the issue within its own membership rather than in the elected body. The fact that Cieran hadn't actively killed anyone on Illium was working in his favor, as was the media barrage that Ven and Shaaryak had unleashed from Illium's own networks, blaming Benihi entirely on Cerberus and Krom.

He'd gone ahead and made a second wave of donations directly to Benihi's schooling system, this one publicly, and while it hadn't really won him hearts and minds, it had at least made the lines blurry enough that the Republics' common citizens were not at all eager to potentially start a war just to get after someone who didn't seem to be all that evil. They _had_ approved the measure to block emigration to Illium in the wake of the 'incident', and Sederis's increasing recruitment drives, but the similar bills intended to cut the world out of the Republics entirely were still stalled in committee and would likely stay that was for months, if not years.

It was buying us some time... but that bitch T'Ravt wouldn't leave things alone. She'd have her unofficial agents out at sea, in addition to her political machinations. We'd gotten lucky that Sparatus had his own plans and believed in the Reapers, but that luck wouldn't last.

On my screen, Iyate had glanced aside at something out of focus, then sighed as she turned back to me. " _Sorry love, Barla Von is calling, he probably needs a thug to intimidate someone. I'll get back to you about our little get together."_

I dipped my head and killed the feed, sighing softly as I leaned further back into my chair. I'd barely done so before the hotel room's door clicked softly, my head snapping around in time to see Cieran and Illyan enter. The latter looked exhausted, while the former bore the expression of someone who was actively weighing the pros and cons of suicide.

"Bad?" I rasped quietly, trusting that they'd be able to hear me regardless.

"Worse." He replied tiredly, heaving off his formal coat and throwing it onto the floor. Rather than bother heading all the way to a bed, he simply collapsed onto the small couch near the door, throwing an arm over his eyes. "Aria is convinced I know more than I actually do, which means she wants me around at all times to make sure I'm not plotting behind her back. We have to fire three of our staff by the way."

I could only sigh, not really wanting to know how he'd picked out Aria's agents. "Plan?"

His free arm waved a hand in Illyan's direction, even as the towering Maiden performed her own stately collapse onto one of the room's two beds. "All kinds of fun... that Batarian from the Traverse isn't showing. He's supposed to declare that his opposition to Aria tomorrow."

Cieran grunted, "He's going to call her insane, declare that the Reapers and Leviathans are a Human and Turian hoax to try and gain power in the Council. He'll be calling for anyone opposing her to join him in the Traverse to setup their own fiefdom or some shit."

I pursed my lips as I turned my chair around, leaning forwards as I mulled over that. "Others?"

The human twitched a little, "Cessa is going to bolt the day after, make it nice and public that she's out. T'Ravt is going to have an equally public row with Sederis the day after _that_ , and both are going to storm out."

"Thus deceiving the Council." Illyan finished tiredly, "The Omega Bloc disintegrating after a few months as per their projections; all hail the status quo."

"Extensive... obvious." At least, to anyone living in the Terminus. But the Council _didn't_ live here, and they didn't quite think about things in the same way that we did.

The Turians would probably buy it entirely, they had a hard time seeing what was actually happening when it contrasted with what they believed should be happening. The Humans and Elcor would both probably accept it as well, both species tended towards wishful thinking at the worst possible moments. And Tevos.. that little bitch would probably have an orgasm right at her lectern in relief that we weren't actually unified. Even if she and the Republics weren't _quite_ sure that it wasn't all just light reflecting from the waves, the last few years had probably been vicious on their long-term plans.

They would want a few years of breathing space just to readjust, and to better figure out how to get everyone at each others throats once again.

"Salarians." I murmured, locating the real problem quickly enough. They wouldn't be fooled, not for a moment, and unlike my own people, they wouldn't be so kind as to give us time.

Cieran let out a heavy breath, keeping up with my mental process as readily as he always did. "Yeah, they're going to be the issue. Figure the STG is going to be working overtime in the Traverse. And the goddess alone knows what the Spectres are going to be up to."

"News." I informed him, waiting until he actually lifted his head up to glance my way before continuing. A dull ache quickly began to spread across my throat as I spoke words in sequence, "Three Salarian, One Turian, One Asari. All into the Traverse."

His eyes narrowed in annoyance, and he heaved himself up to a seated position. "I'd have thought they'd send more."

My right shoulder rolled in a shrug, "Problem."

"How is that a problem?"

I grimaced. "Turian. _You_."

The human blinked, then let out a soft curse. "Assassination?"

"Evaluation." I corrected, then grimaced as I forced more words through my burned throat. "Turian councilor is playing a game, she'll have an angle."

"Of course she will." He exhaled tiredly. "Suppose it could be a lot worse... that Justicar could be after me. Or is she?"

I shook my head, "Politics, delayed."

Illyan let out a tired groan and rolled onto her back, "I knew it was too much to ask that they actually investigate that old bitch. Or do you think they're multi-tasking?"

Cieran sighed. "Anything's possible. Athame's ass, we don't really know how deeply the Matriarch's indoctrination has spread, it's entirely possible that she's ensnared more than a few Justicars at this point. Even if that little tit did actually believe me, her superiors could simply keep her off that assignment."

"Probable." I agreed. "Spectre later. Tomorrow?"

His hand waved again. "We're due at the main complex early, to meet with Aria before the official start. Day one's agenda is mostly just going to be her strutting her ass around and reminding everyone that she's the queen bitch of the Terminus."

I snorted, "Next?"

"Mostly logistical crap," He rolled a shoulder in a shrug, "Working with the other PMC executives to isolate recruitment spheres and make sure we aren't treading in each others waters, that will take a few days. Once that shit's done it'll be more closed door meetings with Aria and her subordinates to work the Collector angle."

"Don't forget your dinner date tonight." Illyan chimed in. "You should probably go shower and start getting ready."

I blinked, "Who?"

"Aria." The other Asari replied, her voice dry, "She's going to interrogate him and General Sulla and make sure that they both know that they belong to her."

That drew a grunt from me. "Blade-wind? Mission?"

"Still not sure." Cieran admitted, "I _think_ they're the ones protecting her science facility, wherever the fuck it is, but both she and they have been good about keeping it quiet. I'll let you know if I pick up anything tonight."

"Good." I murmured, lifting a hand and waving it in shooing motion. "Clean."

He narrowed his green eyes at me in mock-anger, "Always with the orders. You sure you don't want my job?"

The part of me that was Trena stuck my tongue out at him before I could throttle the urge, the sight of which made him snort as he stood up and dutifully headed to the suite's bathroom. Illyan let out a low giggle as I flushed self-consciously and pulled it back into my mouth. Of course, her amusement faded when I quickly stood up, my eyes narrowing a little as I waited to hear the shower begin. Cie always took forever to clean his fur, which would be more than enough time to get another necessary conversation out of the way.

"Um..." She swallowed, her towering body trying to shrink into the bed as I quickly walked in her direction. "Do we have to do this now? He's going to be gone all night."

I made a show of considering the idea then shook my head, "Now."

"But-" She didn't get to finish the word. The moment I heard the water start moving, I seized her by a broad shoulder, and slammed my mind into hers.

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 2: Meeting of the Minds**_

 _As per usual, these chapters are going to be a bit shorter than the normal. And yes, I'm still binging on Andromeda, so my regular schedule might not resume for another week or so, but I'll be trying to get things back into sequence as quickly as I can._

 _Here we get a little glimpse of Ghai's internal personality, which should expand a bit as we go through these chapters. This entire mini-arc will take place on Theodosius, though we won't see much of the planet until chapter three._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	16. Act 2-2: Meeting of Minds

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act II: Councils**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Meeting of Minds**

 _Date:_ 07-11-2185

 _Location:_ Basil, Theodosius, Theodosian System, Attican Traverse

* * *

 **Operatic Memory**

Illyan let out an explosive breath in the mind scape, staggering a little as she reached up to clutch at her skull. "Athame's fucking ass, you couldn't be gentle about it?"

"No." I replied simply, a small pang aching somewhere in my heart at the sound of my old voice. "I don't _do_ gentle, you know that."

Blue eyes narrowed at me, "You do with Cieran. And Trena."

Because both of them were fragile little shells, in their own way, and treating them harshly would only cause them to shatter. Illyan required... a more blunt approach to get through to her actual brain.

A mild effort of will made the absolute darkness around us shift, sand appearing beneath our feet as I chose to utilize Cieran's preferred meeting grounds. Illium's arctic ocean, frozen into immobility, stretched out beneath a starry sky, and a cutting winter wind that chilled my soul and made Illyan wrap her arms around herself as she shivered.

I sighed at her lack of control, "Just call a memory of warmth, it is not difficult."

She scowled at me, but I felt her own mind drift for a few moments before the cold faded, the sensation of a warm body pressing against my own briefly appearing before I pushed it aside.

"So what is this about?" She asked, glancing around as if wondering if I was going to call up something from her memories or my own.

"Several things." I replied, shifting the landscape to leave her standing directly in front of me... and in ideal position for me to slap her across the face. The maiden jerked in surprise, her mind recoiling at the transmission of pain. "First, what the _fuck_ is wrong with you?"

"I..." A hand rose to her face, "What?"

Growling, I cast myself into her memories, letting her last few months flash past our eyes. Obvious flings and temporary lovers paraded themselves before us, several making her flinch as my own irritation and disgust radiated through the meld.

"You've been _anything_ but discreet." I informed her flatly, "I accept that Cieran is a bit of a human idiot who over-thought your relationship to a ridiculous degree, and that you want to actually have a few years as a real maiden instead of having to act as a surrogate mother for your sister, but this? How do you think the rest of us feel when we see you vanish with an empty headed little bitch while Cieran is laying in his bed listening to goddess-damned _artillery fire_ just to fall asleep?"

Her broad shoulders had tightened with each sentence as she drew in on herself, her misery rising upwards like a slow tide. "I... just..."

"Didn't _think._ " I snapped. " _Again._ You have a brain in addition to an azure, try using it."

Some of my own anger reverberated within her, and she drew her towering frame up to loom over me. "I might be an idiot trying to enjoy the time I've got before those things show up, but what the fuck does that make you?"

That made me draw back slightly. I hadn't really anticipated her retaliating, and it gave her an opening to surge her young mind into my own deep sea of memory. I cast her out almost at once, her mental body flying backwards several meters as I viciously dealt with the intrusion, but the damage had been done.

Memories of my own failures and frustration rose up as she hurled them at me, reminding me of how badly my own efforts at helping our friend had gone.

"You're a shit mind healer and you know it." She growled, planting her metaphysical feet into the sand. "Yeah, I was a shit lover for him, but don't throw your crap at me just because you haven't found a way to repair the damage."

My lip curled, and I separated our minds further, but I couldn't keep the whirlpool of anger spinning for more than a few moments. Letting out a soft curse, I turned away and began pacing, a bad habit emanating from my bond that I hadn't been able to shake.

Dammit. As much as I hated to admit it, she was entirely correct... but I still had no idea what to actually _do_ about any of it. Well, besides not telling Cieran anything. I knew that he had guessed most of it, but there was a distinct difference between that and actually knowing. And so far as I knew, he didn't even suspect the reason why Illyan hadn't slept with him since they'd broken up.

The knowledge that melding with him actually caused her real mental pain and trauma wasn't information that he would take well. She'd born it as best she could, believing me when I told her I would do what I could to lessen the impact, but it had still left her both irritable and depressed, making what would have been small matters between them flair up into actual rifts.

Not that Cieran had helped with his problematic take on relationships, but it had all been matters that she would have been willing to work through if I'd been able to do much of anything.

Nor did the fact that she really did love and care for him, and he her, help matters. If it had been nothing but a casual fling she would have had an easier time restraining herself when it came to melding, but when you honestly cared for someone... it was almost impossible to resist. At first she'd managed to refrain, or at least to not delve too deeply, and had only felt a shadow of the pain. But the longer they'd been together, the more often they'd melded, and each time their minds had actually joined, the more readily her own had delved deeply into his. It was a natural response, her body trying to acclimate to his mind in preparation for potentially bonding.

But... anything more than a brush was too deeply when it came to him.

A memory played between us, despite the distance. Trena and I holding her as she shook and sobbed in the early hours of the morning. Cieran didn't know... _couldn't_ know that near the end, she'd often stolen away to our bed after being with him, just to try and recover from the experience of being joined.

It was more distant now, but I still felt her own fury ebb rapidly, the depression and despair it had concealed returning. She hadn't truly wanted to leave him, but she physically _couldn't_ stay with him and still be intimate, and neither of us wanted to tell him just how badly sex with him had hurt her near the end.

He still loved her dearly, and if he found out that being with him had caused her real pain... he wouldn't take it well, and the last thing he needed right now was another shock to his system.

"Still bad?" Illyan asked softly as the tide of emotion receded.

"Bad." I spat the word, "Doesn't describe it. He shouldn't even be _alive._ Every time I work with him I can feel the damage raking across my own brain, it's goddess damned agonizing."

She grimaced, our argument set aside if not forgotten. "No progress at all?"

"I managed to clear up _some_ of the damage during our sessions, enough that he doesn't get the migraines anymore." I admitted, though I left off how difficult that was to do subtly while also dealing with his other, very real issues.

There was a quick blink, "I thought those went away on their own, when his Floating Mind healed up."

"He never had Floating Mind." I growled irritably, "The conditions were similar enough, superficially, that we never tried melding until the expected time limit was up and his migraines had eased somewhat. It was likely just a phase where he had fewer than normal, he's had those before, and tt was probably safe to meld within a year or two. I'm assuming it was planned as some kind of temporary response. A block, something to stop another Asari from getting in while he was acting as a proof of concept..."

Illyan's expression and thoughts became nauseated, "But making his mind available when the Matriarch wanted to bring him back in, so she could inspect how her work held up. Is that even possible?"

"None of this is possible." I spat. "Not by any methods that I know, no true Asari technique is as brutal as what happened to him."

Memory suppression was one of the most common techniques used in mind healing, to temporary relieve distress and block out trauma, but those were supposed to be done _carefully_ and _gracefully_ and in complete agreement with the person being worked on. Most importantly it was supposed to be temporary, the memory allowed to return slowly as the being became capable of handling whatever event had happened.

But what had happened to Cieran wasn't a graceful concealment, his prior life was simply _gone_ , as if someone had gone into his mind with a Krogan battlehammer and started swinging around wildly. He'd already exhibited some symptoms of the damage done, though I'd at least been able to help him work through some of the anxiety and panic attacks... for now anyway. The general trauma of everything that he'd gone through in his physical life was taking its own toll, and I had no idea how long he'd be able to keep things together.

Or how long I'd be able to keep patching things together for him.

"What could happen?" Illyan asked quietly.

I let out a Batarian seething breath between my teeth. "Based on the damage pattern, I'd say he's at risk for additional memory loss, severe anxiety and paranoia beyond his usual norms, and more panic attacks if he gets a hard enough shock... which might not have to be all that hard. He's already clingy to what friends he has, and that might turn into something more desperate. Physically he's probably at risk for seizures or worse, and the goddess alone knows what his lifespan is going to be at this point."

Sickening fury rolled out of me in waves, reverberating with something dark and vicious inside of her. A mutual daydream of strangling Matriarch T'Ravt with her own goddess-damned entrails flicked between us.

"But..." I allowed slowly, the only bit of optimism that I had, "Whatever that _thing_ in the tunnels did to him definitely changed the imprint, into something that I could help with more effectively. It's still slow, obviously, but-"

"You could heal him?"

I grimaced at the optimism and longing in her voice, memories of two lovers holding one another drifting through her mind. "I don't know. Nothing about this is usual, or certain. If I had a few years of peace and quiet plus a full research staff to help, maybe. Right now I'm just trying to redirect his thought patterns around the damaged areas, and keep his memories from being infected."

The last word had been a deliberate choice, and drew a deep grimace and another pang of worry and despair. "He's...?"

"He has at _least_ three implanted commands that I haven't been able to untangle enough to decipher, they're too inlaid with his damaged memories... and looking at those causes him enough trauma that the link breaks almost at once even when I'm as gentle as I can be." I shook my head, avoiding the topic of indoctrination. There would be a time for that later, once Aria's people had finished their own work. "It's... hard to read. I recognize the core of one of them as House T'Jari hypnotic theory, but it's also part... something else. The Matriarch's own patterns I think, specifically tailored to Humans and without any care as to being precise. From the way it resonates with his memories of Trena though, I _think_ it was supposed to drive him to being madly in love with her."

Illyan snorted, though there was no humor in her thoughts. "Didn't work."

"It did," I corrected, "Just not in the way it was probably meant to. He'd die for her in a moment, and if someone killed her... his little hunt for Nine would look like a camping expedition in comparison to what he'd do to her killer."

It was her turn to grimace as her own mind worked that over before agreeing with my thoughts on the matter. "That was his part of the experiment, wasn't it? Testing the relationship compulsions?"

"Likely the main part." Once the Matriarchal bitch had realized the issues, she'd probably adjusted whatever process she'd been using for her group of chosen ones. Whatever she'd learned had evidently worked, as evidenced by how screwed up Korolev's own love life was. "But there's still the other compulsions in there, and they might be something entirely different. Athame's ass, we don't know exactly what role nine, ten, or twelve played either."

Her furrowed expression became nauseated. "Yeah. Figure those four all had some specific thing, right? If we knew what she'd done to them, we'd have a good idea of what Korolev is loaded up with."

I nodded, "And how cautious we'd have to be around her."

It was Illyan's turn to curse and start pacing, her thoughts and memories shifting in obvious patterns as she thought on the subject. "You think the others are related to why he knows about the Leviathans?"

"Maybe." I allowed cautiously.

"You haven't found anything on that in his head?" She asked quietly, her own mind making an amateur effort to bring us closer once again.

I sighed and neatly straightened out the mind scape even as she damaged it, letting our minds intertwine a bit more deeply. "No, not yet, but there's no logical reason he or Krom should have been told about the Leviathans at all, but somehow that got through to the both of them."

We both mulled over that in mental silence, memories and emotions rising and falling as we compared and discarded ideas at the speed of thought before shaking our heads in unison and drifting further apart once again. The only real concept we had was that someone on the inside of the Matriarch's cult had realized the insanity of what was happening, and had tried to give the experiments a leg up... but if that was the case, they hadn't done very much, and they certainly hadn't tried to contact them after.

Likely they'd been caught and killed, or worse, husked. Regardless... it left us with another goddess-damned mystery when we really didn't need more.

"So..." Illyan murmured as we mutually agreed to move on, "I'll try and be less obvious in the future."

"Yes." I nodded before lidding my eyes and splitting my attention, returning some of my focus to my physical body. Water continue to run somewhere in the far distance, so we still had time. "Especially intelligent given the other matter we have to discuss."

A simple push sent a memory of the message I'd gotten this morning, and Illyan blinked in surprise before a tired curse escaped her. "Oh goddess... that's not going to be a mess, not even a little bit of one. Shyeel was the one?"

I nodded simply, though I was also frowning. "She didn't give a reason, only confirmed that she ended it."

Illyan rolled a shoulder in a shrug, "Saw something she didn't like in her?"

I snorted. I'd known of Shyeel for more than two centuries as an occasional rival in the Hegemony. If Voya acted as Voya tended to for the next five decades, she still wouldn't be even close to the same cesspool as we true Harath'krem. "Emotional reasons perhaps, I'm not sure. Either way we shouldn't tell him until we're on our way back. He doesn't need the distraction given who he'll be working with."

Her lips pursed, a single pulse of disapproval radiating outwards. "I don't like keeping things from him as it is."

I quelled another rush off irritation. Goddess save me from well meaning idiots. "I know, but it's a matter of a few days. It isn't as if we are never going to inform him."

A huff of breath preceded a small wave of doubt, but she twitched her head in acknowledgment. "That's still going to be a mess when they get back."

Mess was one word for it. Disaster was another. Shyeel's message had made it clear that Voya was... unhappy that both relationships begun in Omega's mines were already ending, and the goddess alone knew what the unstable Quarian would do as a result. Still, at least she'd be back and Cieran would be able to keep her under some kind of control, but things would likely be strained between the four original Lancers for quite a while.

Which would still be its own problem really... actively displaying dissension in the ranks of the corporation's ultra-elite wouldn't do us much good, especially as we tried to instill some kind of order on our territory.

"You're going to have to try and keep everyone together." I informed her, "At least in public."

Her lips twisted a little as I felt her apprehension. "You know that Voya and I don't like each other, right?"

"Not this again..." I exhaled, throwing a handful of memories at her to remind her that they dearly cared for one another, in their own abrasive fashion. "Just stop them from killing each other, and by Athame's name, stop Cieran from taking a side. The four of you..."

"Are us, yeah." There was a tight sigh as she nodded, "I'll do my best."

My mouth was opening to continue when the distant sound of water ended, and I quickly broke the mental connection.

Illyan let out a long groan of pain at the sudden end, her body going limp into the bed as our minds abruptly returned to reality. I shook off the sensation with the ease of practice, and quickly let myself fall back into my own bed before Cieran emerged from the bathroom.

He glanced over, his hands in the process of tying his wet mane of fur back behind his neck, cocking his head a little to show bemusement. "Illyan, I know the meetings were boring, but they were hardly that bad."

In response she simply held a hand up to give him a rude gesture, then rolled onto her side as if to bury her face in her pillow... but more to give me a glare that I simply ignored.

"Maidens." I rolled my eyes as I settled back, reaching back to re-arrange my pillows so that I could sit up comfortably. "Lazy."

Something close to murderous appeared, but she restrained herself to muttering before rolling onto her belly and ignoring the both of us.

Cieran snorted at her antics, smiling a little even as he collected his armored coat. "The engagement is in Aria's suite, usual rules."

I sighed but nodded. If he didn't come back or check in by midnight, assume the worst and do whatever we could to get out of here and off planet. Not that either of us really thought that Aria would kill him personally, but there was always a chance.

He pulled his trench coat on, gave me another quick nod, and then departed without another word. Illyan waited until the door had locked behind him before lifting her head up and glaring at me.

"Lazy maidens?" Her low voice deepened as she growled at me. "You really want me to just tell him some of this crap anyway?"

I could only sigh, and once again wonder just how I'd become friends with all these young things.

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 3: Council Sessions**_

 _A little bit of relationship talk, how Ghai might be if she actually could speak, and more glimpses of her personality. Along with the first long talk on the state of Cieran's head, which will finally be resolving itself into a major plot point instead of background. Next chapter will move on to the actual meeting sessions taking place on planet._

 _A quick reminder for everyone; my characters are not omniscient, everyone is an unreliable narrator in their own way._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

gods-own - Ghai and Iyate have very low opinions of the Council.

griezz - I thought about that, going to the ARA style, but decided to just stick with the regular first person, didn't want it to seem too similar to Korolev or accidentally end up writing Ghai like her.

Raichu1972 - It's atonement for something.

Micha - Not quite, no.

Infernus - Put a nice long review on the forums. :)


	17. Act 2-3: Council Sessions

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act II: Councils**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Council Sessions**

 _Date:_ 07-14-2185

 _Location:_ Basil, Theodosius, Theodosian System, Attican Traverse

* * *

 **Operatic Memory**

"I appreciate the point," Cieran exhaled the words, his Illium accent sharper than usual. He'd been a little off all day, ever since an early meeting with Aria, but so far had refused to say why, "But my answer is still no."

General Sulla, owner and commander of the all-Turian Blade-Wind Corporation, flicked his black mandibles in a Turian smile. "Is it the price? I can add several more colonies to your recruitment zone."

"It's not the price." The human sighed, leaning back in his seat beside me, "I'm just not interested in opening up my territory to anyone else's recruiting agents any time this year. Considerations for next year is the best I'm willing to do."

The Turian let out a whistling sound, their version of a heavy sigh. "Considerations aren't good enough. I want at least one station in your upper zone."

Cieran pursed his lips, then flicked his eyes to me and shifted his posture to ask me for my opinion. I made a show of considering it for a few moments, we'd already agreed on our final offer before this conversation had even begun, then murmured, "One for one. Quotas."

"One station." The young warlord translated as the General glanced between us, "For you in our zone, we get one station on one of your colonies. Both will have a set number of recruits they're allowed to bring in."

"Immediately?"

"Ten months from now."

More mandible twitching. "Turn of the year."

Cieran grimaced, then offered a tight nod. "Two hundred per month."

"Five." The counter came quickly, "For us, three for you. Unbalanced to compensate for the fact that we only recruit my own species."

"Three each." Came Cieran's own. "That's your own goddess-damned problem."

There was a long pause as the General's eyes narrowed, then he nodded once. "My staff will forward yours the official arrangement after we both return to our command's safely."

"Agreed." Cieran brought a hand up, and the two men shook it once over the table. Then Sulla rose calmly and departed our little booth, heading back to where his own subordinates lurked at the restaurant's bar.

I exhaled as he left, sinking back into my chair even as the human shook his head tiredly, reaching for his drink. The restaurant was packed with our 'equals', the leaders of the other six PMC's that had survived the two recent wars, along with what subordinates that they'd been allowed to bring with. We'd spent the last five hours entertaining one another with a wide variety of offers, and both Cieran and I were entirely sick of it.

Our status as the newest of said organizations hadn't helped, drawing all of the others like carrion swarming a rotting fish on the beach as they hoped to gain something by our inexperience.

While my companion focused on his drinking, I flicked my eyes around the room and remembered. Ithiri had been first, and by far the most tolerable since there hadn't been any actual negotiations beyond her demand to see her niece the next time she was on Omega. We'd spent most of an hour simply catching up on the Hegemony Civil War and the Eclipse's involvement in it. There wasn't much to say, the Traditional-Liberal alliance had finished securing the rim systems, and their fleet along with Leska's were preparing to move into the chaotic inner colonies.

But she'd eventually had to move off to negotiate with Sulla about the Blade-Wind operating in the spinward Terminus, and that had left us open.

Huntress Commander Aeri had arrived first. She'd wanted us to cease recruiting on the worlds she operated, but had been willing to negotiate us continuing to do so in exchange for discounted weapons from Shaaryak's factories. Not that she could have seriously stopped us, not with Sederis having already given her approval, but she could have made herself awfully irritating, and a small discount was a paltry price to pay to avoid such.

And her genuine offer to bring us both to her bed in exchange for future considerations had been amusing, if only for Cieran's reaction.

Things had become less pleasant after that, mostly people wanting access to Illium Minor and trying to intimidate or con us into giving them access. Offers for everything from alliances to discounted loans had been bearable, though I'd had to stop Cieran from shooting the Garadon's commander when he'd offered us slaves in exchange for the technical plans to our power armor.

In comparison, Sulla had been polite, and he and Cieran seem to have reached some kind of accord during their private meetings with Aria. I wasn't entirely sure what it was about, but trusted that I'd find out sooner or later. Even if he didn't tell me directly, I could always glimpse it during our next session. Not that I made a habit of invading his privacy in that fashion, I knew how touchy he was about letting me in at all, but when you were working in someone's head to try and hold it together... some things were unavoidable.

"That all of them?" He asked as he set his empty glass down, "That was right?"

"Yes." I replied with a sigh, letting myself lean into his side. He shifted an arm up onto the back of the booth to give me more room, letting me get close enough to whisper a pair of sentences without straining anything. "Shaaryak won't be happy, but we didn't lose any major recruiting zones. Gained a few, even."

"Yeah... she'll have to deal with some losses. At least we worked out that deal with Ul Cen, discounted fighters might salve her ego a bit if we give her priority." Pale fingers drummed on the booth behind us, his body unusually tense with my proximity. "We'll need to assign people to watch his recruitment center, and Sulla's."

"Nara." I replied dismissively, shifting a bit to rest my head on his shoulder. He wasn't terribly comfortable with the armored coat in the way, but it was better than the battered booth. "Food?"

"At the room." He replied, rolling his free shoulder. "I'd rather not linger here any longer than we have to."

"Waiting?" I asked. "Illyan?"

There was a slight nod as he settled back a bit, closing his eyes as he exhaled. The sight of it made me grimace and then gently elbow him in the side, this wasn't the time or place to show even mild weakness.

Cieran got the message and forced his eyes open, straightening his posture into something more proper without disturbing me, and waved down the nearest waitress for another drink as she moved past. He sipped silently at it while I used him as a cushion, my eyes lidded as I continued to watch the crowd.

Illyan arrived perhaps fifteen minutes later from her own errand, waving at us from near the exit, and the pair of us got off our asses and met her there before departing into broad street on this level of the arcology. One side was lined with more restaurants and shops, while the other offered a terrific view of the day's typhoon as it lashed at the city.

"How'd it go?" Cieran asked as we walked, the street largely empty but for Aria's guards idling near almost every doorway.

"It went." The tall maiden replied, "Trena hasn't killed anyone yet, so I think we can take that as a win. No one's made any real effort to contest our new territory either."

"Good." He exhaled, betraying a little bit of his nervousness in his Batarian posture. As much as he adored Trena, and as much as I loved the little thing, neither of us had exactly felt safe leaving her in command while we were gone. "Everyone else?"

She rolled a shoulder in a shrug, "Relax boss, everything is fine. Joa's in place at Horizon, and Nara is getting ready to send the first line companies out. No one's betrayed us just yet."

"Good." He repeated before falling silent, the three of us saying nothing further in public, a bit of paranoia that I entirely approved of. It was one of the things that I rather liked about the young human, even as I worried that it could grow into something unhealthy.

We continued walking until we reached the nearest bank of lifts, the elevator bringing us up a few floors to the sprawling hotel that occupied the entire level. Cieran had us wait for a few moments near the reception desk as he ordered our dinner, easily remembering what we each preferred before paying. Once that was done with, the three of us headed for our small suite, taking the time to lock the door behind us and get the listening device jammers back online.

"Well that was fun." Cieran exhaled once he was settled into a chair, "Did scales say any of the code words?"

"Just one set." Illyan provided as she stretched out in her bed, "I think... it wasn't on the list you gave me."

One of the furred lines above his eyes rose. "What was it?"

"Sederis is looking for one of her half-sisters, and wants to bring her home." She supplied with a frown, "I thought she actually meant it, but she said it when she was supposed to tell me if anything urgent was happening. What's it mean?"

Cieran pursed his lips, his expression becoming distinctly annoyed. "Dammit... it means I have a call of my own to make as soon as we leave."

I regarded him flatly when he didn't elaborate, then rasped, "Explanation?"

"Long term plan, something I worked out with T'Soni." He shook his head once, "Don't worry about it, worst that will happen is that I'll need to make a detour on the way home."

That entirely failed to reassure either of us, likely due to our mutual exposure to Cieran's plans in the past... and his almost supernatural ability to complicate everything around him. Sighing, I turned and glanced at Illyan, tilting my head towards him. "Session."

The maiden sighed, "Yeah, I'll tap you when the food is here."

Cieran offered me a suspicious glance, but pushed himself off the couch and settled onto the floor, legs crossed before him with his hands on his knees. I moved to sit directly in front of him in the same fashion, our knees touching before I brought my hands and rested them on his shoulders. He was getting faster at clearing and preparing himself, and it only took him a few breaths before he leaned in in time with me, our foreheads touching as I initiated the meld.

Pain assaulted me almost at once, stabbing and raking at my thoughts and mind as I joined our minds together. I felt my body suck in a tight breath reflexively even as I shielded myself, pushing the pain aside before he could feel it through the link... or before I could cringe and break the contact. An Asari would likely have felt it regardless, but thankfully Cieran wasn't one. Human minds and bodies weren't adapted to this kind of mental communication, and I had to be careful not to tax him overmuch as I drew up a mind-scape for us to share.

"Talking or just working?" He asked as he settled his soul down onto the sand, sitting the same fashion as he was in reality. The cold wind whipped through his long fur, and he tilted his head a little to enjoy the breeze even as I called up a memory of Trena's embrace to forestall the bite.

"Working." I replied distractedly, already tracing my way through his memories, careful not to touch the brutalized remnants of his old life as I did. "Unless there is a matter you wish to volunteer?"

Cieran shook his head, but I felt the tiny pulse of deceit regardless... more or less as I'd suspected. Something was on his mind, something he was trying to conceal, and I sighed as I halted halted my exploration and chased the pulse, snorting when I found the quivering emotions attached to it. "Four months without will do that to most people."

A small sting of embarrassment ran through him. He could handle talking about such things with Trena or Illyan, to a degree, but reliving them in his own memories was something he wasn't comfortable with. Especially with me watching on as a voyeur. "Ghai."

I smiled a little and gave him a pulse of reassurance, turning my mind back to where I'd left off last time, carefully touching and pushing his thoughts about his family away from where his brain kept trying to reach out to past memories that weren't there anymore.

He let me work in silence for a long while, then called up a simple memory of his own, making it clear that he wanted to talk once again.

I half closed my eyes as an image of Illyan appeared on the sand beside us, her body lounging much as she often had in his bed.

"Four months." He murmured quietly. "She said we'd still sleep in the same bed together, that we might still have sex once a while... but we haven't. She hasn't. You know why."

Athame's ass... "Yes." I allowed grudgingly, "But it's nothing you have to worry about right now."

Green eyes flicked to me, something dark and low swirling in him before settling. "Aria showed me a report this morning, when she called me to breakfast. From her research team... she assumed I already knew, commended Illyan for being around as long as she was."

My lips opened slightly, then closed as I withdrew somewhat. Aching exhaustion rattled through me in a slow wave, and I let out long sigh. "I won't apologize for it, not with the state of your mind."

Those eyes closed slowly. "How long?"

"Always." I replied simply, pulling him closer in a soft measure. He started to stir, then went still as I embraced his soul against mine, "She held out as long as she could, giving me time to work, but... it's not an easy task. It's taking me longer than I had hoped."

Pain, hatred, despair, desperation, a maelstrom of emotion briefly escaped his rigid control before he seized control of himself once again.

"I..." He sucked in a tight breath even as I felt the connection tremble. He wanted out. Wanted away from me, and my skull abruptly felt like it was splitting in half as I held tightly to keep him here.

"Stop." The word came out as a rasping growl, my physical voice rather than the melodic memory. "Cieran Ul Kean, you will _stop_."

"Ghai-"

"No." I snapped, "Cieran, I can _feel_ you right now, you need to let me help."

Sullen anger actually radiated outwards, and the frozen waves in the nearby ocean creaked as if they were about to shatter. His own voice was sharp with his own pain, and I knew I didn't have long before pieces of his mind began to break under the strain as I held it unwillingly in check. "Why? So you can find something else to not tell me about?

"Yes." I snapped, "I lied, but I did it for-"

"My own good." He struggled more, "You like to do that, don't you? Now let me-"

He wasn't going to calm down, that much was obvious. The depression and anger was mixing too rapidly, too quickly, coalescing into something that could break him entirely. If I kept holding him against his will, he would actually develop Floating Mind, and the effects of that might cause him to snap entirely... but if I let him go, he'd storm off and the goddess alone knew what would happen.

Time for desperation then.

I shifted faculties, drawing from the wellspring that was my bond with Trena, and my mental body reacted at once. A sharp slap echoed as I struck him, making him recoil in surprise, then his entire soul shuddered to a halt as I grabbed his face and pulled him down to kiss me. Memories of Illyan flicked through both of our minds, telling me what to do to make his lips part. His mental struggles slowed as I poured lust and warmth across the meld, bearing his lanky body to the sandy ground as I remained atop of him.

Then, as abruptly as I'd begun, I jerked my head back, and slapped him again.

"You." I growled down at him, each word a snapping rasp that added echoes of pain to my throat. "Are broken. Painful to touch. And I'm still here doing it anyway, so don't you dare insinuate that I don't have anything but your best interests in mind. I'm nearly a goddess-damned Matriarch, I'm allowed to think I have more experience than you and know what will and will not cause you more problems."

He blinked rapidly, surprise reverberating somewhere beneath the shock. I'd never told him just how old I was, and he'd never bothered to ask.

"And yes, I know how you feel." My voice softened as I focused, returning it to something beautiful. "When I was a maiden, I fell in love with a Turian... but he had a medical condition, one that neither of us knew about until our first time together. He had a reaction when we made love, and it killed him."

Cieran went very still beneath me as he felt some of the century old pain and despair, his eyes closing tiredly. "Ghai..."

Something in my rotten heart hurt when I leaned down and rested our heads together, the Turian kiss a memory I'd carried since that day. "I know it hurts. I know you're tired. Goddess, I know, I feel it every time I touch you."

He shuddered slightly, the repressed memories and agonies stirring somewhere. "I don't want to do this anymore. Any of it. Goddess but I'm sick of it."

"I know." I murmured softly, memories of long nights starting at a pistol on my hands flicking between us. "But we both have to keep going. Just for a while longer."

"Why?"

"Because Erana needs you. Because Ethy needs me. Because Trena needs us both." I dipped my chin a little to kiss him softly. "Because running would be smart, and we both know we're too goddess-damned stupid to do that."

Another shudder. "Ghai..."

I sighed at the unspoken question. "I don't know how bad it is, beyond bad. Illyan and I spoke last night... and I know your suspicions. Most are not far off, but as I said, I'm doing everything that I can. Cleaning your mental connections, walling away the damaged areas... it's helping, but there's just so much of it."

He sucked in a breath that became something like a sob, his mental body clenching as he fought to return his mind to order. "Help... please."

I did, silently helping him brush memories and emotions into dark corners and recessions, far from his waking thoughts. I shifted us as we worked, leaving myself on my back with him atop me, his head nuzzled into my neck in the fashion he'd so often enjoyed with his lovers, one of my hands stroking through his soft fur.

We stayed in that place for a long time, well past Illyan's attempt to rouse us, until sleep washed over his mind and our souls gently separated.

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 4: Storm Evaluation**_

 _And we get a bit of politics, but mostly the focus remains on Cieran's mental health or lack thereof. The dichotomy will continue, as expected this isn't something he's going to get over quickly or easily on top of everything else he's dealing with._

 _Side note, in the old fashion: the next chapter is complete, will go up once this chapter hits twelve reviews or a few days go by._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

Septim7 - Melding is painful but not dangerous, its fully bonding that causes the feedback loop and constant sensation of pain that drove 01 insane.

GreaterGoodIreland - Neither does Illyan.

Tallygirl02 - His implanted commands aren't combat related, that wasn't his section of the experimental process, all I'm saying on them for now.

Griezz - Cie is about at that limit, and that is part of what this chapter and the next are about. In regards to Voya, more on that will be coming.

seabo76 - I didn't give her reason yet, no.

Legendary - Only Chek is actually older than Ghai, though not by very much, and her life hasn't exactly been fun for her.


	18. Act 2-4: Storm Evaluation

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act II: Councils**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Storm Evaluation**

 _Date:_ 07-15-2185

 _Location:_ Basil, Theodosius, Theodosian System, Attican Traverse

* * *

 **Operatic Memory**

"Illyan." Cieran sighed, "I'm not going to cut my throat with it in front of you, I'm not _that_ fucked up right now."

The tall Maiden crossed her arms, keeping the blade he used to cut away the fur on his neck firmly in her hand. "Yeah, well I don't bloody trust you with your hands shaking like that, so sit your ass down and let me do it."

"My hands aren't shaking." He rolled his eyes and glanced at me, then sighed when I merely waved a hand towards the stool we'd dragged into the well-lit bathroom. After offering a few quiet curses about overprotective Asari, he sat down and let Illyan spin him a bit.

"You just had to tell her while I was asleep." He sighed as she prepared his skin with some kind of cream or lotion.

I rolled a shoulder tiredly. The moment he'd fallen into a deep enough sleep, I'd melded with him once again, and stayed within his resting mind all night to work on the damage even as Illyan had embraced his physical body to ensure that he actually slept. Of course that meant I hadn't gotten any real sleep of my own, and the process had been anything but fun since I'd had to stop every hour to rest my aching mind, and it was all more than catching up to me.

"Obvious." I offered simply.

"And stop talking." Illyan murmured as she tilted his head back, "I'm always nervous about doing this to begin with."

Cieran pursed his lips but shut up, letting her start carefully working.

"Core issue." I rasped after a few moments of watching, "Orbs."

"Can't let you anywhere near one." Illyan nodded slightly, her eyes entirely focused on what her hands were doing. "I was thinking we buy a scanner from Aria as soon as she finishes it, and set it to go off when an active signal is affecting you. Then tie it into your armor's medication suite and have it knock you out."

He didn't speak, but carefully lifted both hands and twitched them rapidly in Khellish sign language to show his base approval, and a reminder that Illyan had also been exposed on Benihi.

"Agreed." I murmured. She would need one as well, just for safety's sake. "Second, watch."

"I can handle it." Illyan shook her head once as she shifted positions a little to get the section just beneath his chin, being very careful not to touch the longer strands dangling on either side of his mouth. "So can Voya and Shyeel."

Cieran pursed his lips, rapidly signing that he didn't need to constantly be watched.

We both ignored him, thought honestly I didn't think that he was suicidal at the moment, but he was perilously close to simply vanishing to the darkest corner of the galaxy that he could find. If he did that, I didn't think he'd last terribly long, not without my work, and definitely not without his companions. He would probably have a complete break down in the solitude. Only then would he likely choose to end his life rather than accepting either a return to the stress and pain of the galaxy, or a life without the friends who he relied on to give his damaged life meaning.

"Relaxation, rest." I continued. "Both."

"As much as I would love some of either." He took a chance at speaking while Illyan stepped back to clean the blade, checking the area she'd already done. "I'm not seeing any in my near future."

"Healer's order." I informed him simply. As much as I very much _didn't_ want to do this... he needed it more than I did. "Xentha, five months."

Both he and Illyan turned to stare at me, blinking in confusion.

I let out a ragged breath and forced words out, "I can handle things that long. Go to your lair. Rest and heal amongst old friends."

"Maybe find a nice Batarian girl while we're there." Illyan offered quietly as she made him tilt his head back once again, working on his other side. "Or maybe a certain Quarian could use some comfort."

His hands twitched into a reminder that she was taken, and that he wasn't in denial.

I gave Illyan a withering glance, knowing that she'd brought it up on purpose. "Not taken."

Cieran went still, then flicked his fingers in a quick question.

"Shyeel ended it, not her." Illyan provided, "We got another message this morning while you were still out, she said they had a big row about it that may or may not have resulted in broken bones... but she's talked Voya down and they're good now. Bit awkward, but good."

There was a tight snort, indicating just how much he believed that. Not that I could blame him, I didn't either.

"I'm just saying what she said." The maiden rolled a shoulder as she leaned down, carefully getting the last section on his neck. "That would be nice though, wouldn't it boss? Two months on Xentha, no stress, just relaxing. Building weapons, beating up your half-brother, sleeping and drinking constantly..."

He sighed as he shifted his head, leaning forwards towards the mirror to check things for himself, "I don't know. Yes, it does, but... Athame's ass there's so much to do."

"Trust me?" I asked quietly, stepping forwards. "Undeserved... but please. Rest."

His pale green eye gazed into mine, then two hands rose to rub at his face, muffling his voice. "Is one of the implanted commands being stupid about forgiving my friends?"

I smiled a little, "Maybe."

"Check next time." Cieran shook his head as he brought his hands down. "Goddess but I have to be an idiot... all right, two months of vacation, but I still want at least weekly updates from you."

"Bi-weekly." I countered at once, finding myself a little annoyed that he was trying to negotiate. There were times when I missed what he had been like those few years ago, when he defaulted at once to any strong feminine authority as a reflex action. "Four."

"Ghai, I can't be gone for the rest of the bloody year."

"Yes." I informed him, crossing my arms and looking down my nose at him. "Four."

His lips pursed, his nose flexing a little as he exhaled through it. "One month of full vacation, just the four of us, then three more with weekly updates and me conferencing in to staff meetings."

I mused on that, wishing I wasn't so goddess damned tired. It was entirely probable that that was as good as I was going to get from him, and in all honesty there was going to be work that neither I nor Trena would really be able to handle on our own... any negotiations with Horizon or the other colonies for instance. And at least he would be staying on Xentha, in the building he'd helped design, surrounded by three of his closest friends.

"Acceptable." I nodded once.

"And," he added, "I need to make one run out to Illium at some point, depending on how a call goes when we get back to Omega. Likely alone, I want to minimize contact."

My eyes narrowed a little. I knew what he was referring to, I'd seen it during my work last night, and I didn't approve of him handling it alone... especially given his current state of mind. "Illyan."

Cieran glanced at her, then at me, then exhaled when he realized I wasn't about to change my mind. "All right, she can come with, but Illyan, this is going to be need to know only. Not even to Shyeel or Voya, all right?"

"Um... sure?" Illyan replied hesitantly, "What is it? The thing Trena was talking about?"

"I'll tell you after I make the call, might be nothing yet." He rolled a shoulder, "Meantime I think we should focus on today. Illyan, I still want you to meet with Ithiri's second and see what information you can get out of her."

"Got it." She nodded once, "I should get moving then, supposed to meet her for a brunch date."

I eyed her, "Walls. Up."

"I know, I know. She won't see anything I don't let her see." Illyan reached up to tap her temple with a finger, "Assuming anything like that happens."

Cieran snorted quietly, his voice utterly dry. "Yes. Assuming that."

The maiden gave him an abashed look, followed by a small hug, then she was heading out to gather any extra information that she could get. And probably to enjoy a bit of time with a pretty little Matron awed by her exotic size.

For our part, Cieran and I shifted locations back to the main rooms, gathering our coats and equipment as we prepared for our own meetings. He tactfully ignored when I seized his stash of stimulants, taking one to keep me going through the day. I hoped that was a signal that we would be able to focus on the meetings that were coming, but from the almost robotic fashion that he was going through the motions, that wasn't about to happen.

"Ghai." He spoke quietly after perhaps five minutes, not looking in my direction. "I've spent most of my new life repressing everything I didn't want to think about, and not asking about things I didn't want to know. It... hasn't exactly gone well for me."

No. It hadn't. "Question?"

His fingers curled slightly. "How long?"

I didn't pretend to misunderstand him. "Not a doctor."

"Ghai..."

I let out a tight breath. "Honesty, unknown."

His fur shifted as he glanced at me, oddly turning his head rather than his torso. "Best guess, if you aren't able to do more than keep patching things along."

Dammit. Reaching up, I rubbed at my face with my living hand, and then sighed and decided to continue being honest with him. "Five years."

Cieran bowed his head slightly. "I'm guessing that's a best case scenario."

It was. That was assuming I could keep pace with the damage in his mind as areas started to break down, as his mental currents continued to try and drift to their natural patterns... patterns that would carry them through the sections that T'Ravt had ravaged. I was confident of my skills, I'd kept myself and Iyate sane through some bad decades... but I knew I had my limits.

I quietly padded across the room and rested my hand on his shoulder, my ruined voice as soft and gentle as I could make it. "...three, realism. Just... an experiment. Collateral damage."

"A prototype." He muttered the words. "Never meant to actually last, just supposed to test whatever commands are in my head, then be disposed of."

"Cieran." I growled his name, and reached up to lightly hit him over the head. "Cease."

The tall Human jerked a little and blinked at me.

Sucking in a breath, I forced words through my throat. "Do you have _any_ idea what Trena would do to me if I let this kill you? I'm going to fix your mind, even if I have to throw you into a cryopod and leave you there for a century while I do nothing but research."

He blinked a few times, then something like a smile tried to appear. "I think I'd rather avoid that."

"Same." I shook my head, "A century of Trena with no you to take her away when I'm sick of her antics... ugh, no."

That drew the first genuine laugh I'd heard from him in quite some time, and his smile actually reached his eyes. "Right... right. Anything I can do to help?"

Personally... no, there wasn't anything that I knew of. If he was an Asari he probably could have started to piece his own mind back together, but Humans... dammit. He had likely already exceeded how long the Matriarch had originally intended him to survive and operate, and the first effects had already begun to reach him in the form of his panic attacks. I'd managed to forestall more of them with my hasty bandaging, but eventually the anxiety attacks would return, and they would likely be the first indication that his descent was beginning.

The only thing that I knew of that might prolong matters would be an extremely deep bond, much as Krom and Zero-One had done. But while it would likely keep him alive, it would consign whoever bonded to him a life of constant pain and probable insanity, and his own stability wouldn't be far behind. It _could_ work as an emergency stop-gap while critical research was done and accumulated, but long term... long term it would just give him a few more years of increasingly unstable faculties before an attack or seizure ended his life.

No, better to put him into cryogenic sleep rather than risk my life, or Trena's, or Illyan's. He could be awoken once we knew how to fix him.

"Rest." I shook my head, "Easier when relaxed."

There was a soft grunt as he understood my point; it was much harder to work in his mind when he was overly stressed or emotional in comparison to when he was relatively at ease. "I'll keep trying on the whole relaxation thing... What do you need to actually fix me, instead of just keeping me going?"

"Research, notes, data." I supplied at once. "Any."

"That's all going to be in the Republics." He exhaled, a hand rising to his chin as he got his mind focused on the problem. "Assuming the bitch didn't destroy all of it."

"More produced." I reminded him, "Korolev, Twins, examination. Good odds."

Cieran made a quiet sound of agreement. We knew that T'Ravt had kept making more, at least two beyond her little band of five Chosen Ones, which meant she'd continued to refine the process. It was entirely possible that even more Humans had been modified even beyond the unknown twins, and that those models had less overt damage in order to let them survive longer, to be more useful in the long term.

In that case... even looking at them might give me a better idea of where to work, where to safely perform far more severe mental surgeries than I was currently attempting.

"I'll ask T'Soni if she can send Korolev to talk with me." He shook his head a little, his current of thought in line with my own. "I suppose it's past time that she and I had an honest sit down about everything. Convincing her to let you meld, even shallowly, might be possible if she's as screwed up as she seems."

"Agreed." I murmured, nodding before more pain echoed up and down my vocal cords. "If we can arrange it before you depart, that would be better. Give me time to look and analyze, then perhaps arrange a heavy session when you return."

"I'll make the call when we're on our way back." He promised, "As for the rest... shit, I know Aethyta gave Aria the location of a few compounds, but she called a cessation of raids until the political situation calms down a bit."

I pursed my lips. I had hoped to send one or both of the new Lancer teams along with the Blade-Wind's next operation. "Duration?"

"She didn't say." Cieran rolled a shoulder, "Until she indicates otherwise I would suppose. Probably once everyone knows if the Council buys the Omega Bloc's collapse or not."

That was irritating... looking at Korolev might help, but it wouldn't be nearly as useful as hard data. What techniques had been used, what order they'd been used it, what they'd been used _for._ That would let me get a proper therapy regimen in order, and what mental operations needed to happen to let him live his life out to a Human's full lifespan.

"Discuss, after rest." I shook my head. Once he was back we could go to Aria and ask for the raids to be restarted, and I could always speak with her personally while he was away to see if her people had found any relevant data. She had fond memories of a few jobs I'd done for her a few centuries ago, so I doubted the price would be high.

"Right." He nodded, glancing at the glowing clock on a wall. "Come on, we don't want to be late to our own briefing."

I nodded, and grabbed my coat even as he pulled his own on. The tired wariness was still there in his posture, and I didn't think for a moment that his brief smile and laugh meant that he had recovered for more than a few moments... but there was a tiny spark of hope in eyes that had been dead before.

And that mattered.

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 5: Back to Work**_

 _And a bit more information about Cieran, and Ghai's plans to help him, and a bit of hope to go with the general darkness of the last couple of chapters. We've got two more chapters to go in this second act, then we'll have another ten chapter arc._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	19. Act 2-5: Back to Work

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act II: Councils**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Back to Work**

 _Date:_ 07-15-2185

 _Location:_ Basil, Theodosius, Theodosian System, Attican Traverse

* * *

 **Operatic Memory**

Typically, we were barely on time only to find out that Aria hadn't even bothered to show up. Or send any of her people to represent her. We'd done a quick check before confirming that she was still alive, on planet... and having a private briefing with Jona Sederis.

Meaning the two tides-damned crazy bitches were fucking each others brains out, and since Sederis had to have known our schedule, she was probably distracting Omega's Queen as an unasked favor to Cieran, letting him build his own connection with the _Ha'diq_ we'd been partnered with.

Meaning she was up to something. Maybe it was just an effort to get Cieran back into her waters after he'd begun to strike out, or maybe something else was happening... either way it meant more political crap that was just going to annoy all of us.

"All right," Cieran exhaled as he paced around the room's holographic table, the two Batarians sitting at a nearby conference table while I lurked in the background. "I have contracts with three of the major colonies; Horizon, New Canton, and Nagato, and those are going to be our focus. Of them, the big target will be Horizon, they have the largest population. I'll likely be personally moving there to take forward command sometime after the new year."

 _Ha'diq_ Murradin ul Ajin nodded his head politely, then leaned forwards in his chair and focused his upper eyes on the display. A teal skinned Northern Pureblood, he looked something like a younger Xerol, though moved with a slight stiffness beyond the Batarian norm. Injuries from killing his uncle and seizing his position as a Warlord, if I remembered correctly.

"How many forces?" He asked simply, "And where?"

"Horizon can afford two regiments, but it's taking us time to train them." Cieran exhaled through his teeth, the Batarian sound making both of the _Ha'diq_ relax minutely. "By this time next year, we should be able to have them in place, along with a regiment each for the other two. For naval assets, same time frame should see Nagato and New Canton each getting one of our destroyers along with a corvette, with the rest of the fleet above Horizon."

"More than adequate to fulfill your contracts." Lorvit ul Veik expelled a puff of _chehala_ smoke as he nodded. He was far less in shape than the younger man beside him, a legacy of his preference for economic warfare over physical combat. "You will likely be tested for the first month or so, until those over-armored cruisers of yours smash a few raids."

"Leaving you with peace to prepare for the actual fight." Ajin agreed with a grim nod. "Do we have a timeframe on that?"

Cieran grimaced. "Anytime, but I'm assuming they'll be starting small, so we'll have warning."

"Ticking. That Place. New Giza." I murmured, just loudly enough for the three men to hear me. "Likely targets. Satellites, observation. No defense."

Both Batarians blinked at me, and the standing human sighed before translating, "We're going to be dumping passive satellites all over the Traverse to try and get a better feed on what happens when the Collectors _do_ raid a place. No active transmissions to reveal them until the attack is over though, I don't want to waste any strength protecting tiny colonies."

That drew grunts of approval from both men, though Ajin continued to take the lead. "Wise, better to let them reveal themselves killing off a few useless targets and learn what you can."

Cieran dipped his head, "Precisely. When we do hit them, I want to drag them beneath the water and hold them there. The more of them we kill, the more salvage we can get our hands on, and the more we'll understand them for round two."

"Speaking of salvage." Veik spoke up, "Our share?"

"Equal splits." My companion rolled a shoulder, "Assuming it's safe to use and isn't all Reaper-tech."

The former merchant prince grunted and nodded, "Acceptable. Do you still wish us to lurk near Nagato?"

"Preferably." Cieran nodded once again, turning back to the map and shifting it slightly onto the heart of the Traverse. "I can establish routine picket runs between Horizon and New Canton, they're practically on top of each other, but Nagato is farther out."

Sucking in a breath, I forced ruined growls out of my throat. "Shear Cluster should have sufficient anchorages for your fleets, and is close enough to two Salarian relays to let you maintain your raids."

Both _Ha'diq_ exchanged a quick glance with their lower eyes, then rose and moved closer to start examining the star-chart more closely. The two made a show of arguing over who would get which star systems, but it was blatantly obvious that they'd already worked it out, and were simply trying to get a measure of us in turn.

Cieran, being himself, didn't rise to the bait, instead remained silent while they bickered. I sighed as I shifted to stand beside him, resisting the urge to lean against his side to remind him that he was hardly alone.

"If you've worked that out," He spoke up once the pair was done with their discussion, "I'm not going to be asking for anything overt at first. Once my people have pinpointed the best chance to ambush the Collectors, I'll get in touch and give you the time and place. We'll also transfer all of the actionable intelligence that we gain."

Ajin nodded slightly, splitting his gaze between us before lowering his voice, "And I suppose we'll just have to trust that you will give us what we need to know?"

"If you insist on sending an agent each to Horizon, you can." Cieran twitched a shoulder, his tones becoming irritated. "Look, I'm not interested in your territory or your wealth, and unless I missed a memo neither of you is looking to branch into PMC work. The only reason any of us are doing any of this is because Aria will kill us if we don't."

Veik let out a hissing sigh, "True, Reyja'krem. True. I would sooner remain in the Terminus and fight our war from there rather than bother with these... bugs."

"Someone has to." I rasped, "Unlucky us."

The rotund exile glanced at me, "Let me guess, you would sooner be fighting in the Hegemony?"

We would rather be _home_ , but in the absence of that option, fighting beside Ayle and Shaaryak in the civil war would likely be an improvement over our current situation.

Cieran proved that he was learning by hesitating before he changed the subject, as if silently admitting the point. "Point is that betraying you won't gain me anything, and the pair of you betraying me will just see Aria ripping your heads off and stacking your skulls beside Tarak's."

Shudders went through Veik's flab as he puffed nervously on his pipe, and Ajin openly grimaced as his posture shifted to disgust. "A fair point."

"Bright side," I offered quietly, "We're the front line."

"True." Ajin nodded slightly, getting his body back to neutral. "But from what intelligence we have on the Collectors, the battle will likely be bloody when it does come. And there are still the Geth to deal with as well, many of their ships vanished in the Traverse, if both factions are controlled by these Reapers..."

"They could join in, well in advance of the Flotilla campaign." Veik agreed behind a small cloud of white smoke, "Still, that might not be a bad thing long term. We know Geth ships can be salvaged and converted safely, which is something we do not know of Collector tech."

Cieran offered a small snort, shifting his posture to show wry amusement. "Assuming we're all alive to bicker about who gets to claim which hulk, I'll take that as a well earned victory."

Quiet, deep laughter answered his comment, and then the meeting shifted more towards timing patterns and routines. Both of the _Ha'diq_ were what the Council called Pirate Lords, as such they had much larger fleets than our own, mostly consisting of small, fast ships, but they had next to no ground forces. They relied entirely upon raiding and occasionally hiring themselves out to Aria or T'Ravt to maintain their income, and simply couldn't afford ground troops beyond their ship's crews and a few 'marine' units.

Based on their location, and the distances to all three of our priority colonies, they quickly worked out a rotating schedule of raids that would leave at least half of their fleet ready to respond at any given time. Ajin would mostly be focusing on quick strikes against the Salarians thanks to his long grudge against Sur'kesh, while Veik would be more sensible and prey upon other pirate groups and mixed-species colonies in the Traverse.

While they were occupying themselves with their usual profession, we'd be scrambling to get everything into position and trying to train up as many militia on all three colonies as we could. And if we could avoid starting up any more fights with the Corsairs or Council while we were at it, so much the better.

After perhaps an hour the two Batarians departed, in a far more congenial mood than they likely would have been if Aria had been present and looming over everything. Better, both had seemed to respect Cieran for never trying to lord power over them as too many petty tyrants often tried... and nor had he given up anything when they'd tried to press him with reminders of their own strength.

In other words, he'd drawn on his Batarian side quite extensively and managed to impress that he was a worthy ally on the both of them. Though he probably could have done without how Ajin had positioned himself just before he'd left, a silent offer that Cieran had been quick to politely reject.

I quirked a little smile at Cieran as he shut down the table and cleared its memory, "Sure? Not unattractive."

He gave me an annoyed look. "I was really hoping you didn't notice."

I snorted. "Never thought?"

"No." He replied flatly, shaking his head, "Just... no. Can we move on please? This was our last official meeting, and if Sederis is giving us a chance to get off-world with her tonight, I want to take it."

My smile faded a little, "Strings."

"I know, but..." He stopped moving, planting his hands on the table and shaking his head. "Three years Ghai. Time isn't my friend, even without the Reapers... Athame's ass, especially with them, since we don't know if the fight will be done in that time-frame. The sooner we get to Illium, the sooner we talk with Korolev."

"Cieran..." I replied quietly, stepping to stay between him and the door. "Rushing. Unhelpful."

"And I want to talk with Solus." The Human spoke as if I hadn't, "Besides about the Collector angle... do you think a graybox would buy time?"

I blinked a little, cocking my head and considering the question seriously. The majority of the damage was in his memories, or connected to them.. it was possible that it could help, but I'd need to do research on the Human model. If his active thoughts all drew on memories from the machine rather than the damaged areas of his mind... that could buy him quite a bit of time. Several more years at least, though the damage would still lurk in the background and have to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

But there was also the downsides of the idea. Even state of the art Salarian gray-boxes were notoriously finicky devices, and he could just as easily end up _worse,_ especially given the existing state of his mind. His three to five years could suddenly become three to five months if his body rejected the implant... assuming he survived the operation at all.

"Time, maybe." I lifted a hand to my chin and rubbed at it. "Very risky."

He let out a tight breath, "We'll talk with Solus on Omega before we go to Illium, and get a second opinion from Doctor Sayran."

"All right." I agreed quietly, not about to quell the bit of hope I'd laboriously started up this morning.

"Good... let's get going-ugh!" The words became an exclamation as I easily stepped into him and planted my shoulder into his chest, driving the air from his lungs as he abruptly stopped moving.

Then I was hugging the idiot again, and sighing as I whispered. "She wants you to be her pet again. She _wants_ you to realize her favor, and accept more. Don't. You have time, two more days here will not hurt."

"Ghai..." He tried, not returning the embrace.

"Cieran." My eyes narrowed a little, and I leaned up and to my right, leaving my mouth near the submissive side of his neck as I rasped out another sentence. "I will absolutely bite you and drag you all the way back to our hotel room."

He wasn't quite so quick to default at once to an authoritative female as he once had been, but the threat made him go still, then sigh quietly as he awkwardly shifted his arms around me. "Doctor's orders?"

"Quite." I murmured, pecking his soft skin with my lips and enjoying the way his body gave a little thrum, betraying him utterly thanks to how many months he'd gone without. I didn't particularly enjoy the bodies of human males, but a bit of gentle teasing was always fun... and it would make Trena blanch in horror when she saw the memories. "Lunch?"

"You're buying." He informed me as I stepped back, his head shaking a little. "You're buying until I say otherwise."

I rolled my eyes but smiled a little, falling into step beside him as our mini-vacation began.

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 6: Forever Lingering**_

 _One more chapter from Ghai's point of view, and then our little mini-arc will be wrapped up and we'll be back to Cieran's screwed up head._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	20. Act 2-6: Forever Lingering

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act II: Councils**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Forever Lingering**

 _Date:_ 07-29-2185

 _Location:_ Afterlife Medical Zone, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

 **Operatic Memory**

Aria glanced up from the long report I'd handed her, her lips pursed a little as she considered the information. Recognizing her 'I'm thinking' pose, I simply stood politely and waited for her to say whatever it was that she was thinking.

"You believe this will actually work?" She asked finally, setting the tablet aside and reaching for a glass of wine beside her chair.

I rolled a shoulder in a minute shrug, "Time, possibly."

The time since we'd left Theodosius had been...hectic. Korolev hadn't been available to meet with us at Omega, she was apparently on some kind of assignment, but Aethyta had pressed upon her to do a shallow meld with Liara and to have her daughter report back on what she found. The little maiden was hardly a mind healer, but she'd felt the stinging pain almost at once along with a host of other issues and broken the link in something like a panic.

Korolev had promptly been pulled from the mission and rushed back to Illium, where Doctor Sayran and Aethyta had both taken personal looks. That had kicked off a scramble to dust off whatever information they could find on the other Chosen Ones, namely the autopsies done after C-Sec had found their corpses scattered across the Citadel. In a rare stroke of luck, it had actually been the Yahg who'd discovered them and the oddities surrounding their deaths, and he'd bribed several doctors to take very close looks at the bodies to try and discern just what had been happening.

Three of the four had greyboxes in their skulls, along with extreme neural implants to go with odd patterns of scarring on their brains.

As far as I knew, Korolev was undergoing the same surgery as Cieran at the moment, albeit on Illium. Though her condition wasn't nearly as severe as his, it still wasn't good either, and whatever improvements T'Ravt had made to her 'process' had likely only been incremental. Sayran thought the girl might have had a full decade in her, but only if her disparate personalities continued to coordinate and get along.

If they didn't, or enough time passed... she would meet the same fate as Cie; seizures and anxiety attacks breaking her apart even as her memories washed away.

"They had them for a reason." Pain echoed in my throat as I offered Omega's Queen the courtesy of complete sentences, "Assuming they live through the implantation, worst case is that it at least helps mask some of the effects. Makes their time more comfortable. Best case is that it buys them a few more years each, maybe enough for us to figure this out."

Aria tapped her glass with a single finger, then nodded ever so slightly. "Was that old bitch able to decode the greyboxes?"

I snorted quietly, she knew the answer to that.

The younger Matron dipped her head slightly, accepting the point and the ridiculousness of her own question. She was probably having an off day, likely fighting with that little Turian morality pet of hers once again.

"Keep me updated." Her words had a finality that I didn't miss, and I dipped my head before turning for the exit without another word.

It didn't take me long to go from Aria's private waiting room down to the more public one, though at the moment its wide space was occupied by a mere five people. One was a Turian orderly, who was keeping his attention entirely on his console as he desperate tried to not be noticeable.

The reason for his obvious fear was Voya, the Quarian woman pacing furiously in her suit, her hands clenched at her side as her odd legs carried her back and forth across the room. She'd progressed from denial to anger then, when I'd left to meet with the Queen she'd still been entirely silent and practically immobile after being told that Cieran might have as few as three years left to live.

Seated in chairs against one of the walls were Illyan and Shyeel, the two of them externally calm though I could see a bit of tension in the latter's body. Not that I could blame her, if it wasn't for Voya all but demanding it none of us would be here. Honestly the Quarian and Human fixation on waiting on a surgery was something I still couldn't wrap my head around... it was both ghoulish and agonizing, better to be occupied elsewhere.

Especially with as long of a process as this was. Theoretically I thought the actual surgery was long over, they were just being exceedingly careful in waking him up and activating his new implants.

"Ghai." The last person present was my bondmate, and she glanced up from where she was seated apart from the other two Asari, her beautiful eyes sunken and exhausted. "Deal done then?"

I nodded. "Exchanged."

She nodded tiredly. "Figure out why she cared? I get the whole paying for using her place, but I figured it would be something more than just knowing what we're doing."

My lips pursed a little as I approached, settling into the seat beside her. I had my suspicions, but I also had no real proof... and I didn't want to complicate things with Cieran's technical boss. Well, the boss that was most likely to kill him if he pushed his boundaries. He could get away with breaking things off with Jona and the Lady, so long as he was careful about it... but Aria wasn't either of them.

"News?" I asked quietly, shifting an arm around her shoulders as she leaned her stocky little body into my side.

"Nothing since he said the first part went fine. Should be done soon, I think." Trena sucked in a little breath there, swallowing emotion. "The little... Voya's not doing well though."

I could tell. The Quarian was shaking her head now, obviously talking to herself in her head as she kept pacing.

We both watched her for a few minutes, then my bondmate let out a quiet, miserable sound. "When will we know?"

I sighed. He would need a few weeks of recovery, at least, before I risked melding with him. A standard month at a bare minimum, preferably two. Once I was sure it was safe, I would want to do daily sessions to get things into order as quickly as I could. His active memories would have to go into the device, his mind trained to call them from there, and then I would once again suppress the damaged areas as heavily as I could.

If, and that was a hurricane sized if, all of that went well... I might be able to keep him alive for a full lifespan, provided I could bond with him routinely in order to make sure everything was acting as it was supposed to. But... dammit. The damage from five years of living before we'd realized the depths of his problems was already rather severe, the corruption already encroaching on his early memories of Illium. Even if I could keep things patched up, none of this would do anything to counter the indoctrination still in place, and only the goddess knew what _that_ was doing to him.

It was far more likely that the best this would do was double his time remaining, but that was still a paltry decade. If we wanted him to live more than that without shoving him in a cryogenic unit for a century or more... I needed that bitch of a Matriarch's research data.

"Xentha, two months." I murmured. "Rest."

She nodded into my shoulder. "Then what? Back here so you can work on him?"

"Yes." My arm tightened slightly, and I pulled her a little closer. "You, enforce relaxation. Two... _three_ more months."

"Can fucking do." She promised quietly. "He won't get up to shit, and I'll make sure Erana is on our side. I'll take over his deal with Jack, maybe make those three idiots help when they get back."

I grimaced a little. I'd completely forgotten about his mentorship with the damaged girl, but at least Trena hadn't. "Good."

"Ghai." We both looked up at the sound of Voya's filtered voice, the Quarian's glowing eyes gleaming through her armored mask. "Where did you stop?"

I blinked, then tilted my head a little.

She made a mewling, growling sound. "You left Theodosius more than a week ago, it doesn't take that long to get back. Where did you three go?"

"Two." Illyan spoke up cautiously, "They didn't take me with, and they wouldn't tell me beyond that it was something they were keeping quiet. Some kind of deal with T'Soni."

"T'Soni?" Voya muttered the name. "Why her?"

In response, I merely rolled the shoulder that Trena wasn't using as a pillow before pointedly letting my head shift to rest on top of hers. Cieran wanted things kept quiet on that front for now, and I could agree with his reasons, as had T'Soni. She'd covered our trail well enough that I doubted anyone would figure it out, and we'd been entirely discrete and careful once we'd gotten there.

Well, mostly. There had been a small issue, but for once we'd manage to resolve it quietly and cleanly before we'd returned to Omega.

"Was it about this?" She demanded sharply.

"No." I murmured, trusting her suit would amplify the quiet words. "Trust. Relax."

"Relax?" The word practically spat out of her. "That stupid _keshin_ is... and I'm supposed to _relax?_ "

I narrowed my eyes at her and raised my voice sharply. "Voya'chi."

Whatever she'd been about to say next became a strangled sound as she took a step back from me. I firmly jerked my chin to the chairs on my left, and after a long moment, she sullenly stalked forwards before sitting her ass down. Her eyes kept glaring right back at mine, and she likely would have still kept venting her worry and frustration if not for the sound of the main doors opening.

Mordin Solus emerged in a furious bustle, his black eyes blinking rapidly as we all glanced at him. "Patient is fine, quite fine. Everything according to plan. Needs rest, time to integrate. Watch for rejection, will provide pills and instructions."

"I can take those." Trena sighed, gently extracting herself from me and rising. "Can the rest of these idiots go see the ape?"

"One of you, calmly. Room nine." He waved a hand, then headed off with Trena, speaking rapidly as he outlined all of the precautions we'd have to take and how to react if we noticed anything wrong.

While my bondmate thusly suffered trying to understand words beings spoken without any pause to breath between them, the rest of us all exchanged glances, a mental question as to who would go see him.

Voya settled the debate by standing before anyone else could, and all but storming through the doors.

"Really does love him, doesn't she?" Illyan sighed, her expression complicated as she tried to lean back in the stiff chair.

"They've been through a lot together." Shyeel offered, her voice noncommittal to the extreme. "Tone down the jealousy a little."

The maiden looked like she wanted to snap at her for the comment, but worked her jaw and simply clenched her teeth instead.

I merely sighed. "Illyan. Hurts, but calm."

She stared at me for a few long breaths, then grimaced and closed her eyes, visibly focusing on her breathing. Shyeel seemed to hesitate for a moment, then sighed and moved a hand to rest it on the taller Asari's shoulder in a wordless apology for being that tactless.

That entire situation was going to be mess, regardless of whether or not Cieran lived... and even if he and the Quarian never engaged one another that way. Any being that he became involved with was going to have to deal with Illyan and her own pain; the fact that she still wanted to be with him but physically couldn't without subjecting herself to agony. There wasn't much I could do for her beyond listening and offering her the warmth of my skin from time to time... unfortunately there was no technique to heal broken hearts.

After a few moments, Illyan sucked in a slow breath, "I... think we should push them."

We both glanced at her, blinking in confusion, and she shook her head.

"Cieran... might not have that much time left, he deserves some kind of comfort." She swallowed her next words, unable to say aloud that he deserved the kind of comfort she couldn't give him. "And they both might deny it, might not think the other's body is all that hot, but he and Voya are bloody inseparable. Have been since we freed her."

I pursed my lips a little. My bondmate would entirely approve, but I generally preferred to avoid trying to set people up. I'd done enough corrupt and decadent things in my life without adding emotional manipulation of friends, especially since I knew exactly how conflicted they were. "Shyeel?"

The other Matron was frowning a little, the expression tugging at the brand across her cheek. "I... won't stop you if you want to try, but don't expect any help from me."

Illyan turned and frowned at her, "Why not? Didn't you break up with her because she's actually in love with him?"

Shyeel's expression became as utterly blank and remote as a sheet of ice. "That is between us."

I shared a look with Illyan, then shook my head a little to warn her away from pushing. The maiden sighed and nodded, "All right, I'll see if I can get Trena and Erana to help. Maybe Jack too."

My shoulder rolled as I shrugged. Trena would be ecstatic and immediately commit to any such plan, if only to take her mind off the fact that her closest friend could be dying even more quickly than a human typically did. Erana would likely go along if only to try and make her surrogate parent happy, though I didn't know if Jacqueline would. Possibly, she was very close to Voya, and seemed very interested in Cieran's well being.

There were already a few rumors that she was interested him beyond his role as her trainer, but I thought that was less to do with desire and more to do with her own pain over losing Shepard, and her fear that one of the very few other people who actually gave a shit about her would die on her as well.

Goddess... she wasn't going to take this particular news well. Likely better to avoid telling her, or Erana, at least for now. Best to keep all of this as private as possible actually, the last thing we needed was a rush of people trying to set themselves up as his successor by offering sympathies real or fake.

Besides, we all knew that it would be Trena who he dumped the job on, regardless of how long he lived. He'd want to hear her cursing his name as he smiled and went to the goddess.

The three of us fell into a quiet, awkward silence until Voya returned, perhaps ten minutes later.

"He knows who he is." She reported, her tones far calmer than they had been before. "Who I am, and remembers why he's here and what's going on. Was awake for all of a few minutes before he fell asleep again."

"That's good." Illyan exhaled heavily.

"No." Voya all but growled, "They cut his mane off. Almost all of it. He looks absolutely ridiculous. And the useless _keshin_ is going to need a hover-chair for at least a week, if not longer. And we're going to have to take shifts watching his pale ass to make sure he's not rejecting the implants."

Shyeel spoke, her voice dry. "And he'll have an eidetic memory to call you out on every inconsistency?"

"Oh shut it." The Quarian snapped, but there was a familiar tone to her voice and no real heat. "Where did that crazy Salarian take the little bitch? I don't trust her not to forget what he's telling her."

I smiled a little and rose, nodding in the direction they'd gone.

Cieran might have been dying, might have needed to have technology shoved into his brain just to give him a chance... but he still had his friends. We would take care of him, even if he couldn't take care of himself.

Even if we did have to beat him up once and a while to get the point across.

* * *

 **Next up is Act III: The Traverse**

 _And just to be very clear, as Ghai is implying, this is not an instant cure for either Cieran or Korolev. They are both very heavily damaged from what the Matriarch did to them, while Ghai has some hopes that it might work, realistically the procedures are simply intended to buy them and their friends more time to find an actual long-term solution... Assuming there is one._

 _The next Act is going to pick up after Cieran's enforced recovery period/vacation, so about four or five months worth of time in story. What he and the others got up to during that timeframe will be referenced, even if few details will actually be given._

 _Additionally, I'm shifting a good deal of the review responses over to the forums right now. Responses that I think are critical that everyone know will still go at the end of each chapter, but simpler ones will be found in the Chevalier thread._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	21. Act 3-1: Second Awakening

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act III: The Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Second Awakening**

 _Date:_ 01-27-2186

 _Location:_ Silver Blades Command Center, Illium Minor, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

My recovery from having a piece of technology implanted into my brain was... interesting. Not least because suddenly gaining an eidetic memory was something that took a while to get used to, and wasn't always a pleasant thing to have. For example, now I'd never be able to forget the fun week where my sense of balance had abruptly deserted me. Or the general embarrassment of everything that Voya and Illyan had been forced to help me do in the first few days.

Still, I didn't seem to be rejecting the neural implants, so at least I wasn't dying more quickly than I already was. Small victories.

Ghai was cautiously optimistic that my new brain implants combined with her traditional mind healing techniques were preventing more damage from accumulating, for now at least. She was reasonably sure that she could keep me stable for a few years, but after that... if things didn't look better, or at least the same, I'd have to go into stasis. Which, considering the state of my head, could easily kill me as well.

And all of _that_ was assuming that my neural lace and greybox kept working as they were supposed to, and that Ghai could keep the damaged parts of my brain suppressed and hidden from my active thoughts. I'd lost what few memories and glimpses I'd begun to recover about my past as a result, and she'd also hidden all but a few scraps of my first few weeks on Illium. If things got worse, she might have to suppress more just to try and keep ahead of the damage.

It.. wasn't exactly pleasant to realize that I couldn't remember how I'd met Trena, and she'd paled considerably when Ghai had admitted that she'd had to hide it. Trena had promptly walked me through our first few days together, sans her usual swearing, but...

I'd already decided, privately, that I'd choose cryo rather than start to lose any other important memories... assuming that my degradation began after the Reapers and Leviathans were handled. If the stress of _that_ made crap worse, which it probably would... well, I wasn't going to abandon everyone else, regardless of how shit things ended up becoming for me.

Of course, that was assuming that my shadows let me make such a decision, and didn't just sucker-punch me and throw me into a stasis pod regardless of my desires. Voya had already made it perfectly clear that Ghai just had to say the word and she would do so, and I knew that Trena and Illyan had bought a few drugs from Solus that would knock me out in seconds.

Shyeel and I had ended up becoming far closer than we once had been, if only because she was the only one of my closest friends who _didn't_ treat me like I was about to fall over at any given moment. We'd fallen back into old habits of playing cards while we'd been on Xentha, often with the recruits being drawn into Ayle's units. We'd kept the stakes far lower than we usually played for, mostly to avoid skinning the awed kids alive. The hard games we'd saved for the times when Idas and Faras were able to join in, and it had been more than pleasant to spend time with the both of them once again.

Well, excepting the time where we'd gotten drunk remembering all of the friends we'd lost. The hangover hadn't had anything on Voya's reaction when she'd returned from Celthani, given that I technically shouldn't have been drinking yet.

About the only people I hadn't really seen were my half-family and Haro, mostly because keeping my condition quiet seemed to be the more appropriate choice. As far as most people knew, I was simply recovering from a sparring accident with Trena and enjoying a badly needed vacation, but I didn't for a moment think that MacKinnon or her bondmate would believe that. Or that they would avoid telling the Lady Warlord about the scars on my head, and I had enough problems between Aria and Sederis at the moment without adding Yan T'Ravt into things.

The two Warlords were fighting as often as they were fucking, and I was one of the many smaller warlords caught up in the squabble. Sederis, unsurprisingly, wanted bold action and preparation focused on the Matriarch and the Leviathans. If we happened to pick a fight with the Republics, so be it, better to get it over with sooner rather than later. Aria thought that was moronic and all too likely to draw a sharper, _unified_ Council response, and wanted to focus entirely on the Geth. Making it public that she and Die Waffe were moving in that direction to try and stall for more time, and to make sure that the Turians and Humans were not at all eager to support any Asari measures against the Terminus.

A desire to extend my life said to agree with Sederis, but logic said to run with Aria. Publicly the Council was still dismissive of the Terminus, pointing out that we had wars to recover from and how the Omega Bloc had collapsed so quickly, but privately they'd put things into motion to make sure that we stayed off balance. The STG, Nightwind, and Spectres had claimed three manufacturing complexes, two Pirate Kings, and were probably responsible for at least several dozen acts of sabotage over the past five of months.

Our only saving grace there was the fact that it was just the Salarians and Asari making the moves, with the Turians, Humans, and newly promoted Elcor still playing their own games. Which wasn't all that good of news really, since we had no idea what they were up to, and it wasn't as if the Union or Republics really needed any help to fuck with us.

Especially now that the first moves of yet _another_ enemy had been made.

"Well shit." I exhaled, rubbing at my temples as Trena and I stood in my office, accepting the call from one of our ship Captains. "Another one?"

" _Yes sir."_ Captain ul Ghren grimaced as he shook his head, the image of the stately Batarian man hovering above the holographic table as he gave his report. " _That Place is entirely deserted, in the same fashion as New Giza."_

Trena grunted and leaned onto the edge of the holographic table. "Those fuckers find the satellites again?"

" _Thankfully just one this time."_ He nodded to someone off screen, and the table promptly pinged as more data began to stream across the FTL buoy network. " _We're pulling them both aboard now, and should be prepared to depart once my ground team returns."_

"Good." I glanced at the information coming in, "Any traces of them at the colony? Any of the immobilizing constructs left behind?"

One head shake. " _No sir."_

Fighting the urge to curse aloud, I simply nodded grimly. "How long until word gets out?"

The tan skinned male gave me a bleak smile and an apologetic tilt to his head, " _Not long. A supply ship was due tomorrow, so the Prime Minister will probably hear of it sooner rather than later."_

Athame's ass... I reached up and rubbed at my forehead again before sighing, "Thanks Kol, get your ass back to Horizon."

" _Sir."_ The captain of the _Fireball_ gave a quick bow as the transmission ended, and he was probably already snapping orders at his people to hurry the fuck up to get his light ship back to the safety of Joa's fleet. Scavengers and other small-time pirates might have shied away from the Silver Blade logo, but there plenty of people with more ambition than sense who might pick a fight... and only the goddess knew when Cerberus would hear and rush to investigate as well.

Trena let out an annoyed breath as she pushed off from the table, her short legs carrying her back and forth as she started pacing. "Shit. That's two in five weeks ape."

"I know." I turned, leaning against the table. "But we still don't have enough data to correlate a pattern, not with just two attacks. At least we scraped up some information this time, even if there wasn't any of the insect things on the ground."

Her blue face twisted into a grimace. "That's still a goddess damned problem. Solus might be willing to help but he can't do shit without samples."

"I know, I know, but what can we do besides wait?" I reached up and pinched at the bridge of my nose. "We still don't even know how they're getting through the Relays without being picked up either... dammit. Too many questions, and now I'm going to have to waste time calming that rat down again."

Trena snorted. "That rat is paying the salary of the entire goddess-damned fleet ape."

"I know." I repeated sullenly. If the little asshole wasn't, I'd have probably already shot him and told the colonists on Horizon to pick someone I could actually tolerate. Preferably someone competent as well. As it was, only my promise to Illyan to _not_ lose my temper had stopped me from at least maiming him a bit.

Letting out a tight breath, I reached up ran a hand through my still not-long-enough hair. I'd had to keep it short the first few months, so that everyone could keep an eye on the incision points, and it wasn't even at my shoulders yet. Goddess, it was going to be another couple of months before I could even properly add the front braids again...

"Ape," Trena asked, her voice quiet. "You all right?"

I lowered my hand and glowered at her. "Athame's ass scales, not you too."

"You won't stop touching your goddess damned head." She growled back, "Of course I'm going to fucking ask."

"It's nothing, it doesn't hurt." I muttered in reply. "I'm not rejecting, calm your short ass down."

My friend narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, clearly not about to do so. "You can't fucking blame us for worrying."

Fighting the urge to rub at my face, I settled for planting my own hands on the table behind me and glowering back at her. The anger didn't last more than a few breaths before it washed away, pulled beneath a wave of exhaustion. Trena was honestly the least smothering of the three, usually reserving her worries for when she thought I was actually in pain.

"I'm fine Trena." I offered quietly. "I'm stable right now, just tired of dealing with idiots. Especially _that_ idiot."

She eyed me for a few breaths, then nodded slightly. "Yeah, guess I can't fucking blame you. You want to go over the data now or call a meeting?"

I frowned a little in thought, then shook my head, "No, we'll go over it once we get there. It's probably all crap that Joa will be able to understand more than us anyway."

Trena grunted at that. "You want me to round my team up, or are we staying here for a while?"

"They need a break after that pirate base," I shook my head, "And Mirala is visiting her sisters on Xentha anyway. Let them finish their leave and catch up with us when Ghai can spare you. I'll take the old team with me for now."

There was a grunt from my old friend, "All right. When are you going to leave?"

"Soon as Captain ul Don can round his crew back up." I replied, "You mind telling him to start prepping the _Noln_? I'll track down everyone else and tell your bondmate that we're heading back to Horizon."

"Sure ape." Trena gave me another glance as she turned, as if to reassure herself that I wasn't about to fall over, then headed towards the door with business-like strides.

I watched her go, exhaling heavily as I did. Then, instead of turning back to the table, I let my eyes drift half closed and called up the most recent deployment plan from memory.

So far our recruitment was entirely on schedule, though training was lagging a bit. I'd hoped to have five regiments with two more training by this time, but I'd underestimated just how many combat veterans that Ayle had stolen off of Redcliffe before we really got going. As a result, we were being forced to make do with more raw recruits than any of us had hoped for. Still, they were all Terminus citizens, which shortened things up quite a bit, but it was still taking time.

Instead of seven regiments, we only had six, and three of them weren't what I considered combat-effective just yet. Our first two, under Nara's personal command, were on Horizon per our main contract. The third regiment, lead by a taciturn Asari named Vesik B'Nor, had recently arrived on and was entrenching itself on Nagato, while one line company of the fourth regiment was only now shipping out to New Canton. The rest of the unit was still on Omega, along with the fifth and sixth, sweating their way through drills beneath Ghai's watchful eyes.

Our fleet was a bit ahead of schedule in comparison. Only the _Headsman_ and the _Berri Noln_ still needed time, but both were at the point where we could work on them in our own docks instead of having to pay out the ass for Illium's facilities. And the _Noln_ was at least in good enough shape to ferry us to Horizon and back. Joa had most of the fleet lurking above Horizon, with occasional patrol rotations heading out to reinforce the destroyer-corvette pairs hovering around New Canton and Nagato.

Captain Kol ul Ghren and the _Fireball_ were our only real independent force, being tasked with being the first response to Collector attacks. Mostly because Joa and I had agreed that he was the most trustworthy captain that we had after Jun T'Voth, and we weren't about to give the _Headsman_ to someone else.

My eyes snapped open in time with my office door, Voya padding into the room once it had opened. She was in her armor, sans her helmet which was hanging from her belt as per usual, though the rest of her appearance had changed somewhat since I'd last seen her.

She'd taken to actually wearing makeup, darkening her lips to something almost black to make them stand out against her grey skin. Further, she'd added bits of something that threw her sharp cheekbones into greater relief, while a bit more dark color around her large, glowing eyes made them look a little curled at the sides. Further, her stiff white hair had been done up in the same style I'd previously favored, braided bands hanging over each of her shoulders while the rest was tied back in a high ponytail.

I had no idea why she'd suddenly started caring about her appearance, and I knew better than to ask. I also knew better than to admit that the changes did a lot to shift her from uncanny-valley weird to something close to attractive... though that might have just been the fact that I hadn't had sex with anything in nearly a year. Probably the latter... hopefully the latter, for my sanity's sake.

"Lost in your memories again?" She asked quietly, stopping a meter or so away from me.

"No... well, sort of." I sighed, pushing away from the table behind me. "Reviewing our status, trying to decide how ready we are for those bugs."

"Ah." Her forked tongue briefly appeared as she licked her lips, "Not as ready as we could be, but better than your worst case. We'd still be _more_ ready if you'd let me kill that _keshin_."

I grimaced, trying and failing not to be tempted. "Voya..."

She twitched an unrepentant shoulder, "I could be discreet, the big idiot wouldn't know."

"She'd know." I sighed, getting my legs moving. All of our things were still on the _Noln_ from our last trip between Omega and Horizon, so it wasn't as if we had to pack. "Come on, let's go find Shyeel and Illyan."

Voya grimaced as she turned, her hair rustling a little as she fell in beside me. "The little bitch was telling the truth then? You can't just call the stupid _bosh'tet_?"

"I probably could." I admitted, "But we're due back to check the defenses anyway, and that Spectre wants a face-to-face meeting."

Voya's dark lips twisted a little. "And you're curious to know what her game is."

"That too." My right shoulder rolled in a Asari shrug as we exited my office, entering the quiet antechamber where the Lancers usually lounged. No one else was present today, likely taking advantage of their leave time somewhere besides their lair. "Maybe we can trade intelligence, if she's reasonable. Would be nice to know what the Council is actually up to since the old fish still won't give us much."

Her ivory teeth briefly showed themselves, "Are you sure we can't just get rid of her?"

"Unfortunately." I sighed. Aethyta was becoming a crotchety old pain in the ass, but I couldn't exactly blame her for her paranoia.

While I'd been recovering on Xentha, she'd continued to fight the shadow war against T'Ravt, and she was getting frustrated. She'd taken down at least three more of T'Ravt's husk-producing compounds in raids lead by Vakarian and T'Soni, and she'd pinpointed two more in the Terminus for Aria and Sederis to obliterate, but there hadn't been any signs of Eighteen or Nineteen, or any real intelligence on what her plans were for that matter.

She'd found confirmation that the Matriarch had been the one to inspire Ganar to kick-start the fighting, and that her plan had been to wait for him or Aria to kill the other on Omega before seizing control of the station with an army of husks hidden in the mines and Zeta district. The main goal had evidently been to seize Elder's core and the AI chorus it had slaved to itself as a war asset before killing everything else alive. Once the station was cleansed, they'd pull out and leave the Terminus to its own devices.

Which, considering that both Aria and Ganar would have been dead in that scenario, would probably have meant that any alliance between the remaining warlords would have been next to impossible. The entire region would have become ignorable for the duration of whatever she and her Leviathan masters were planning.

It was nice to know all of that now, but it didn't give us any fucking idea what step two of her plan was going to be. Or how she was going to adjust to that plan's complete failure.

And, just to pile a bit more work and stress onto Aethyta's plate, Liara had become as obsessed with curing Korolev as she was with finding the Lazarus complex, to the point where her father was beginning to severely worry about her daughter's mental health.

I shook my head a little and dragged my ass out of the greybox. The thing was handy as shit, but I had a much better understanding for Kasumi and Thane's issues. It was very, very easy to get lost in musings and perfect memories of conversations. Or memories of... better times.

"Vasir still talks with Trena." I spoke as we stepped into the lift, Voya hitting the buttuon to take us down. "Gives us at least one need-to-know pathway."

Voya sniffed disdainfully as we plummeted downwards, "Yes, because _Vasir_ is trustworthy."

"Never said she was." I replied mildly. "But she's not afraid to get her hands dirty, and she's smart enough to worry about the old fish's stability on top of T'Soni's."

Her only response to that was to cross her arms, silently making it clear that she didn't take any reassurance in that. Not that I could really blame her, I didn't trust Vasir overly much either, but with T'Soni's latest issues, Korolev being kept under wraps, and Vakarian still hating me... we weren't exactly spoiled for choice when it came to keeping contact with the Broker Network.

We fell into our usual, companionable silence after that, though Voya remained a full step closer to me than she would have five months ago. Exiting the lift once it reached the ground floor deposited us into the main command center, the quiet murmur of a hundred voices echoing as the various command staffs worked in their designated control pits. Some were running training exercises, while others were coordinating the patrols around our territory. A few were dealing with the kinds of problems that civilized space would leave to cops, though only a few.

I hadn't laid down many laws, but I'd written out even fewer punishments, and people had gotten the hint rather quickly.

"Sir!" I glanced to my left at the young voice, seeing Erana thread her way through several Batarians who quickly got out of her way. The young maiden all but slid to a stop, panting a little as she handed me a secured datapad. "Another one of your... things."

I lifted an eyebrow as I took it. Her skin was flushed with sweat, and her dark uniform was clinging to her more tightly than Illyan would ever have approved of... especially since it was perfectly clear that she didn't have anything beneath the shirt. Even better, she was again wearing the face-paint that her sister had asked her not to. It was simple enough, and the same style that Illyan was currently trying out; A pair of white vertical line running down over her eyes and ending midway down her cheeks. It wasn't all that much, but they managed to give her youthful features an almost wicked edge.

"Do I want to know why you were running?" I asked, already having a good idea as to where she'd been.

There was a slight flush to her cheeks that I doubted had anything to do with her labored breathing, "Um... no, sir."

Voya sighed heavily beside me, her braids shifting a little as she shook her head. "You were watching the recruits work out again, weren't you? _Keelah_ but you really are related to the giant idiot."

The slight flush deepened as Erana refused to meet our eyes, "I... um... might have been... working out with them... "

"That Drell Lieutenant again?" I asked bemusedly, "What's his name... the one with the scars?"

Her mouth moved, but only something like a squeak came out. If any more blood rushed to her cheeks she would probably faint, and I could only sigh in bemusement before taking some pity on her, "We're getting ready to head out, so pack up anything you took off the ship. Should be leaving by next shift... and if you can get aboard before we find Illyan, you might want to shower."

She swallowed heavily, "I... Yes sir."

I could only smile as she sketched a quick salute, then all but tore off towards the lift as fast as her tired legs would carry her.

"Honestly." Voya muttered as she watched my assistant go, "Drell. I don't understand the attraction."

"I can count on one hand the number of people you've ever found attractive." I countered, tucking the tablet into one of my coat's pockets as I noticed another friend approaching from one of the bars scattered through the room, a drink in her hand. "Shyeel, that Lieutenant in Asariel, and that bartender in the Old District."

There was a superior sniff as she tilted her nose up a little, "I will not apologize for having standards, and Shyeel remains borderline."

"That hurts." Said Asari snorted as she arrived, a hand rising to touch her heart. Shyeel at least hadn't really changed her style any, and if anything she seemed amused that Voya and Illyan had. "That really hurts. It's the scars isn't it? Or the skin?"

Voya's wide eyes rolled a little, "Stop being so dramatic. If you had hair you would be more acceptable."

Her former lover snorted, but smiled as she did. I still had no idea what had caused them to break up, especially since they seemed to be perfectly amicable around each other. Occasionally flirty even. Now and then things would get tense for no reason that I could discern, probably because I was a mere male, but they would simply vanish to either talk it out or engage in a brutal spar to settle things.

I, at least, hadn't made the mistake of asking for details, not after Illyan had told me that she'd nearly had her head bitten off by Shyeel for doing so. Whatever had happened was between them, and was apparently going to stay that way.

"So." Shyeel shifted the topic with a sip of her drink, her head tilted for a polite question. "On station for all of a day and we're already going back to Horizon? Thought you said that we'd be sticking around a while."

"That was the plan before the Collectors moved again." I answered with a grimace, "That Place was taken a day before a few tradeships were supposed to show, which means the rat is going to hear about it soon and throw another fit."

The Asari rolled her eyes, "You really shouldn't talk about our employer that way Cie."

I narrowed my own. "Weren't you the one saying we should ask Chek to eat him?"

"I'm not the Warlord stuck negotiating with him." She replied brightly. "I get to say crap like that, you don't."

"As the Warlord," I drawled in return, turning slightly to get moving again, heading to the main command pit. "I can say what I want about a rat faced asshole who thinks he owns us because he pays us."

Voya tilted her head as she fell in on my right, Shyeel trailing a bit on my left. "Contract is set to renew next month, we could always cancel that and just focus on New Canton."

"We need the money." Shyeel pointed out, "Horizon's the only human colony with enough cash to pay for us, we'd have to shift most of the fleet to one of the Batarian worlds just to break even."

"And they're all too far away from the Collectors' probable targets." I exhaled through my teeth, letting the seething whistle escape as we slowly walked. "As much as I hate him we're stuck with him, for now. We are going to go to a monthly rotation on the contract though."

"Leave the moment after the attack on it is done." Voya mused. "Can we kill him then?"

"Maybe." I allowed as we reached Ghai's command area, my mind healer glanced up as the three of us trotted down the stairs into the recessed area. One of her hands waved in a silent command, and the officers who had been clustered around her quickly made room to let us approach.

"Executive Commander." Senior Captain Nel B'Mara drew herself up before giving me a quick Batarian bow, her subordinates hastening to follow her example. Most of them, like most of my branch, were a mix of Asari and Batarians, with a few Turians and Humans scattered about the sparse crowd. We also had plenty of Krogan, but few of them were in this particular regiment.

"Nel." I replied bemusedly, sketching a polite reply back. "How's the Fourth doing?"

The purple skinned Matron rolled a shoulder, her Illium accent as sharp as my own as she replied, "Plenty of room to improve, but I don't see any issues hitting our target deployment date."

"Good." I flicked my eyes to Ghai, "Setting up the exercise next shift?"

She dipped her head once. "Tigers, Level Twenty."

Voya's lips curled back a little, showing her double-set of canines. "Cie, you sure we can't stay? I've wanted to deal with those racist hypocrites for so long."

I didn't even bother responding to that, "Ghai, we're headed back to Horizon. Collectors hit again, That Place this time."

The Asari grimaced even as mutters broke out amongst the subordinate officers. "Understood. Spectre?"

"Yeah." I made sure to keep my posture confident, even a little cocky for the Batarians present. "Figure it's past time that we had a chat with her, and someone has to go calm the rat down."

Snickers replaced the muttering, and Captain B'Mara smiled slightly, though I could see the tightness around her eyes. "With your permission, I'll have the Hunting teams that perform best today set to rotate to New Canton. The sooner we start digging in there, the better I'll feel."

I pursed my lips a little, rechecking with my memory that she already had a Line unit in place before nodding once. "Work with Ghai on the details, but don't rush things. I'd rather have a few well trained units there who can deal with the unknown rather than a bunch of maidens who panic."

She nodded firmly, "I'll keep that in mind sir."

My greybox helpfully reminded me that there had been a time when I'd twitched when anyone had called me that, before I'd had to deal with countless subordinates who all refereed to me as Commander or 'sir' on a daily basis for months on end. Though I supposed I could be thankful for the device in one fashion, it made it easy to remember people's names.

That was especially important when I considered the fact that each regiment had a senior staff of a dozen or more people before you even got into the company commanders... never-mind the Captain and Exec of each of our ships, plus their Marine Captains. And all of the suppliers, local and otherwise that I had to deal with. And the other minor warlords along with _their_ subordinates. And the militia officers and politicians on Horizon. And...

I shook my head sharply, the motion snapping me out of the mental picture album before the silence could become awkward. "Good. Keep me in the loop as usual, we should be at the Horizon command center by third shift tomorrow if the _Noln_ 's engines are still working. Ghai, you know where my Harath'krem is?"

"Training." She replied simply, "Return?"

"Figure at least two weeks to see what the Spectre wants and make sure everything is fine." I rolled a shoulder, knowing what she really meant. We were on bi-weekly healing sessions at the moment, with four weeks in between the absolute maximum that she would tolerate... and only if I legitimately needed to be away that long. "I might make an inspection tour of Nagato and New Canton if I'm out there, make sure the troops are settling in well on both. Three weeks at the most."

"I was hoping to do a similar inspection of my people." B'Mara shifted her weight a little, betraying her usually well-hidden nerves. She was a young matron who'd never commanded anything larger than a huntress team before, and tended to heavily look to Ghai, myself, and Captain B'Nor for guidance on how to act as a result. "Perhaps we could coordinate?"

"That would be more than acceptable." I nodded reassuringly, "Maybe the _Headsman_ will be ready for a shake-down run and can carry your Hunting team along in some style."

Shyeel made a sound of approval. "That would definitely leave on impression on the locals, assuming the goddess-damned thing doesn't break-down in orbit."

I snorted. "Assuming that. Nel, go ahead and work that angle and update me by message. Ghai, I'll keep you in the loop for when I should be back."

Ghai nodded politely, then turned back to the holographic display of Omega. Nel and the others offered another quick round of head-tilting bows, even the Humans and Turians had caught on to using the motion instead of saluting, and then returned their own attention to their briefing. I flicked my eyes to the image, nodded once in approval, and then got my ass moving again, Shyeel and Voya easily keeping pace.

The former sighed as she finished her drink, handing it to one of Ven's people as she walked past him, "You'd think the Tigers would have learned we're out of their league by now."

"If nothing else they're giving us a live-fire target to train against." Voya rolled a shoulder in a shrug, her hands lowering to her waist to retrieve her helmet. It took her a few moments to get her hair properly locked into her armored collar, her motions quick and practiced before she pulled the headgear on. "Even the big idiot can't complain."

I snorted a little. Illyan _did_ complain about the White Tigers, but it was more of the 'are they really that goddess-damned _stupid_ ' variety of complaining. The gang had only escalated their attacks on our territory once they'd gotten their leadership sorted out in the wake of Ganar's invasion, not that that had gotten them anywhere. Mostly because their new Alpha, much like Bern, didn't stoop to things like terroristic bombings. But while their ambushes, raids, and other random attacks were annoying, and occasionally cost us people, our vastly superior equipment meant that the Tigers lost far more than us each time they tried it.

I'd held off on retaliating for as long as I could, hoping they'd get the fucking message and cut shit out... but they hadn't, so we'd started to send out our own hits. It had been Ghai's idea to use them as real training missions, teaching our recruits how to fight in Omega's chaotic landscape. Overwhelming numbers were used to keep our own casualties to a minimum, and since I still had no real desire to expand further, deals with a reasonable Asari gang called the Tersatani had let them move in after we'd 'pacified' the various areas.

The Tigers had broken apart as a result, with their old Alpha still railing against me and my 'Batarian terrorists', while a smart young woman had seized their territory in Kima and admitted that any fight against us was suicide. I was content to let the latter do whatever, while the Fourth was gearing up to finish off the former's last alcove in lower Doru.

"Well, at least it'll be done with." Shyeel yawned as we headed towards the exit, "Who are we going to fight next?"

"Bugs." I sighed. "And pirates probably. I'm sure we can find a few idiots worth finishing off... the Circle still around?"

Voya let out a low growling sound. "Probably. Fucking Corsairs never could properly finish off a target, even when it was right in front of them... I'll ask a few other Takers, see if they've heard anything."

My lips tugged a little as we breezed through the guard room, moving out into the street. "That would be useful, the more combat training we can get our people before the hurricanes hit, the better."

"And," Shyeel offered bemusedly as the general crowd broke apart to give us space, "Slavers and idiots make a nice, acceptable target that you won't feel bad about, and that Illyan won't yell at you for?"

"That too." I rolled a shoulder in a shrug, tilting my head politely to those Batarians who offered respect as we passed. "Come on, let's go find Illyan and get out of here."

The Quarian on my right let out an annoyed sound through her helmet. "You sure we need her with? I really don't want to end up locked in another room with you again."

I grimaced a little. "I talked with her about that."

"You've talked with her twice." Voya growled. "That _bosh'tet_ has tried to put us in stupid, supposedly romantic situations at least a dozen times in the last month."

"Nine times." Shyeel corrected absently.

"That's a dozen for my people."

The Asari glanced at her, "I thought sixteen was."

There was another girlish growl, and a hand fell to the pistol on her belt. "No. It was nine."

My fellow Reyja'krem snorted, rolling her eyes, "Right. My mistake."

Voya's glowing eyes glared through her visor for a few steps, then flicked back to the front. "Point is that it's annoying, and that if she does it again, I'm going to stab her. Or set her fringe on fire."

I could only sigh and shake my head, "The last time you tried either of those things she got Trena to lock you in stasis, then had Chek hold you upside down until you passed out, and then she painted your hair bright green."

Three fingered hands curled into fists, her voice lowering with the promise of vengeance. "I know."

Shyeel snorted, "Look on the bright side Cie, the trip won't be boring."

I could only sigh and resist the urge to rub at my temples. If there was one thing I'd learned in the last five months, it was that having more than one of my friends around was a guaranteed way to avoid boredom... so long as I didn't mind fist fights, explosions, drunken arguments, the occasional attempted murder, or the time that they'd almost started a war.

Athame's ass... maybe I should just go with Ghai's idea and slip them all heavy sedatives in their drinks. Maybe then Erana and I could have a nice evening just reading a pair of goddess-damned books without someone starting up a crisis on the ship. Though at least it would just be the four of us, plus the maiden... things would be slightly more calm than they were when Trena's team was also present.

Still... a night without being hovered around did sound pretty fucking good, and I knew I could rely on Erana if I phrased the request properly. So it would just be a matter of ensuring the proper dosages and that all three of them took it at the same time. Over dinner, perhaps...

"Cieran." Voya narrowed her eyes at me. "I know that look. You're plotting something."

"Yup." I admitted.

"I'm not going to like it."

"Nope." I nodded.

There was a very low growl. "If you try to drug me, I _will_ kill you."

I glanced at her, a small smile tugging at my lips. "Would I really do such a thing?"

"Yes." Her voice stayed low. "And to make sure you heard me, I. Will. Kill. You."

"After all the effort you're putting into keeping me alive?" I asked. "That would be more of a threat if you didn't constantly hover around, worrying about me, stopping me from drinking and-guh!"

She withdrew the fist from my stomach as I coughed, trying to get my wind back as I kept stumbling along. On my left, Shyeel could only let out a tired sigh as we turned right, leaving the main street and entering the wide courtyard that had been set aside for training exercises.

It was fairly quiet this shift, with no major training runs occurring, and thus lacking the crowds that often gathered to watch them. The largest lowered section currently held only two people, with a third sitting on the upraised edge and letting her long legs stretch down the stairs as Illyan watched Vessian run Jacqueline through a few shooting drills.

The tattooed biotic flicked her pistol as it barked, snapping off rounds as she tracked the mobile targets at the end of the range. Beside her, the Turian watched in approval as she hit the core areas more often than she missed them. He'd taken an interest in her about the same time that Trena had temporarily taken over her hand to hand training, offering to help her build on what Shepard had started.

"Hey boss." Illyan glanced up as she heard us approach, the new white markings on her face gleaming a little in Omega's perpetual red lighting. "...Athame's ass, we're leaving again, aren't we?"

"Yup." I nodded, "Another Collector raid."

Blue lips twisted as she shook her head, planting her hands on the ground before heaving herself to her feet. "So much for taking a nice little break then. Which colony?"

"That Place." Shyeel replied, "So not much of a loss."

The tall maiden grimaced, but didn't exactly disagree. Some of the Traverse colonies, like Horizon and New Canton, were fairly reputable places that actually conducted legitimate business. Others... not so much. That Place had been a smuggler's den at the best of times, and a refuge for human pirates on its off days.

"So Matheau is already screaming at you?" She guessed.

"Not yet, but figure he will be soon enough." I sighed, quickly filling her in on what had happened as well as my plans to meet with the Spectre and inspect the various deployments.

Illyan listened attentively, nodding slightly as I finished. "Well, could be worse I suppose. You going to be all right away from Ghai for so long?"

"Yes." It was my turn to twist my lips a little. "I don't need daily sessions anymore."

She rolled a shoulder, her expression utterly unrepentant. "Yeah, but we'll be gone two or three weeks, just want to make sure."

"She approved." Shyeel, at least, moved to my defense, "Already talked with her. He'll be fine so long as we don't stay out for more than four or five."

My former lover eyed the smaller Asari for a few breaths before accepting that, "All right. We just waiting on my sister then, or is she staying here?"

Voya let out a prim little snort, "From your tone, you want her with. Worried she'll spend a little too much private time with a certain Drell lieutenant?"

Illyan let out an almost tectonic growl of displeasure. "I'd worry less if _someone_ stopped encouraging her."

Her rival merely crossed her arms, leaning forwards a little. "Maybe that _someone_ thinks she has a right to live her own life."

Shyeel groaned and quickly stepped between them, "Athame's azure, not this fight again. Cieran and I are not nearly drunk enough to find it funny."

"Agreed." I sighed, reaching out and taking Voya by a shoulder, pulling her a step backwards. She let me, only shrugging my hand off once I'd gotten her a few steps away from Illyan. For her part, the maiden simply crossed her arms unhappily, refusing to look anywhere near the Quarian as she clenched her jaw.

The slight disturbance was enough to draw some attention, and Jacqueline's voice heralded her own approach as she and Vessian took a break. He elected to remain down below, reading something on his omni-tool while his fellow Lancer came to join us.

"What the crap is this? Why are you two always stopping them, it's fun as shit to watch them fight." She idly bounced up the stairs, how well she'd evidently done in target practice evident in her cockier than usual motions.

I shook my head as I turned to face her, shifting my body a little and flicking my right hand in quick motions at my side. While I did that, Shyeel and Illyan stepped aside, the former talking in low tones to try and calm the latter down.

For her part, Jacqueline was the same as ever, still disdaining the notion of shirts in favor of letting everyone see her tattoos and the muscles that she'd spent the last several months building up. She was still a bit on the short side, but she didn't look like the strung-out drug user she'd once been anymore, and was well on her way to regrowing her hair back into her old style.

"I'd rather not have them both stuck in medical for the entire trip." I replied easily.

"Trip?" Brown eyes narrowed a little, "You're leaving already? You said we'd be fucking sparring."

I grimaced at the reminder, "I know, I know. Another Collector attack forced a change in schedule. You'll have to tolerate Trena again."

Jacqueline made an annoyed sound, "...fine, we rotating out to join you or you coming back here?"

"Not sure yet." I admitted, "Depends on how long we're out. I want you to work on your situational awareness in the meantime."

She blinked. "My situational-"

Voya hit her low from behind, having cloaked herself once I'd gotten between her and the human woman. Jacqueline let out a breathy curse and tried to roll with the impact, only to yelp when Voya simply planted a foot right on top of her right breast and added a bit of her weight.

"Still needs some work." I sighed. "Honestly, I didn't even put my hand behind my back."

Jacqueline's skin reddened a little, and she seemed to slump as Voya stepped off of her. "...shit."

"You're doing better in straight fights." The Quarian allowed, reaching down and grabbing her by an arm before hauling her up to her feet. "But Cie's right, you relax too much when friends are around, and you're starting to get tunnel vision... probably thanks to the _bosh'tet_ training you."

I grimaced at the reminder of my own issue. "Hence why I want to beat bad habits out of her before they really set in. Trena can help with that."

Jacqueline flinched a little, "By ambushing me with that stupid sword again?"

"Hey, at least she lets you use your biotics." I reminded her, "Besides, impress her enough and I might have something for our next session."

There was a quick blink, and then her eyes widened. "No shit. You finished them?"

"Two Batarian War Gauntlets, re-sized to your tiny little arms." I confirmed, "Do well with scales on this go around, and I'll start you on using them."

"Fuck yes!" Jacqueline didn't bounce up and down like a little girl being given a pony, but she did give me a viciously excited grin before lunging forwards and hugging me. She realized what she'd done about a heartbeat later, and immediately let go and stepped back, her face a little flushed.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her before she could get away, pulling her back into the hug, "And you _will_ take proper care of the things consider how much work I put into them."

There was a snort and an almost hesitant embrace before I let her go, "Yeah, I hear you. I'll take care of them."

"Good." I nodded, "I'll see you in a few weeks... oh. Don't be afraid to start your own sessions with Trena either, her own awareness could probably use some work."

Jacqueline blinked, then her lips curled a little. "Permission to ambush the bitch? I'll take it after the crap she did to me while you were gone."

Voya snorted, "Just be careful on the timing. Your Ancestors will probably scream in pain if you try anything while she's around Ghai."

A quick shudder ran through the tattooed body, "No shit, I'm not a fucking moron."

Smiling a little, I lifted a hand and made a shooing motion. "Good to know. Back to target practice, we need to get moving."

"Yeah, yeah." She shook her head, turning away and starting back down the stairs to where Vessian was already resetting the range. "See you two later."

I snorted, turning and rounding up my Asari companions with another quick gesture, the four of us getting moving towards the docks. I'd just about contented myself with a quiet, relaxing walk when Illyan finally noticed that our fifth member was currently missing.

"Boss..." Her voice was a low, angry thing. "You sent Erana onto the ship already, right? You're not covering for her... _again?"_

I opened my mouth to deny everything, only for Shyeel to snort. "Of course he's covering for her, she was working out with the recruits again."

There was enough time for me to shoot her a betrayed look before a massive hand clamped down on my shoulder, squeezing almost viciously tightly. "You know Cie... I think you've been looking a little slow lately. We should spar, just to make sure you aren't getting rusty."

I could only grimace and mentally promise Shyeel some payback while Voya cackled quietly.

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communication Log**_

 _Illyan: And you're sure he'll be fine?_

 _Trena: By the goddess, yes. He really did clear it with Ghai. He'll survive a few weeks away from her._

 _Illyan: You can't blame me for worrying about him._

 _Trena: I don't, but between you and Voya you're starting to drive him insane._

 _Shyeel: All three of you are._

 _Illyan: You don't get an opinion, I know you're the one who keeps giving him those bottles of goddess-damned rum._

 _Shyeel: Well fucking forgive me for wanting to make sure he still has a life. He's not going to drop dead just because he still drinks and smokes chehala._

 _Trena: I don't care if he does that shit, that's all Voya and this idiot._

 _Illyan: Trena..._

 _Trena: Fucking... look, I worry about the damned implants, I've seen people reject before and it's not pretty. Especially with it all being in his head._

 _Shyeel: I get that, I worry too, but at this point worrying and hovering just annoys him._

 _Trena: Speaking of annoying him, how'd the latest attempt go?_

 _Illyan: ...as badly as the last few. She hacked through the door in under a minute, and then they both dragged me to the cargo bay and tag-teamed me. My bruises have goddess-damned bruises._

 _Trena: Dammit. Shyeel-_

 _Shyeel: No. I'm still not getting involved._

 _Trena: ...fine. Illyan, go ahead and throttle down a bit. I've got something to try when you get back to Omega._

 _Illyan: I'm almost afraid to ask._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 2: Acclimation and Deals**_

 _And he we are in Act 3. Lot of recap and updates in this particular chapter, thanks to the long time skip and some of what happened in the last act. I'm not sure if all of the chapters for this act will be this long, but they'll probably be a bit lengthier than the norm. Next chapter will see the old gang on Horizon, along with Joa and Nara, plus a few new characters._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	22. Act 3-2: Acclimation and Deals

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act III: The Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Acclimation and Deals**

 _Date:_ 02-02-2186

 _Location:_ Soyuz, New Progress, Horizon _,_ Iera System, Attican Traverse

* * *

I settled into a seat at the dark bar, feeling far more at home here than I did on the rest of this goddess-damned colony. Off to my left, my three companions all headed for a dark booth, Voya making sure to claim an entire side to herself while Illyan and Shyeel settled in across from her. Their own posture was far more relaxed as well, even Illyan's, and I could hear them trade good natured insults with the pale waitress when she went over to deliver their usual drinks without being asked.

It was an extremely pleasant change of pace from the rest of Horizon. Here we got quick nods of respect and amused smirks instead of the half-awed, half-terrified crap that we often had to deal on 'normal' streets. Of course, I'd take the fear over the mixed superiority and grovelling that I ran into each time I had to deal with the local politicians.

Soyuz was the main gathering place for the usual kind of lowlifes and criminals that I associated with, though their business tended to be rather tame by my standards. Smuggling, mostly, trying to avoid paying taxes to either the Alliance or colonial authorities. A few freelance mercenaries who made a living protecting said smugglers, or were hired on by local corporations for a variety of reasons. A pair of drug runners in a corner, their local dealer making a manifest disappear into his coat as he noticed my wandering attention.

Throw in a few crooked cops, a couple of actual criminals, and three teenagers who looked like they'd come in on a dare, and I almost felt like I was back on Omega... Except for the fact that everyone besides my three friends were Human. I still found that to be a little unsettling.

"Your usual?" The Russian rumble came from the old bartender, his voice nearly blending in with the general mutter of conversation through the place.

"Yes." I pitched my own words up a bit to make sure they carried, sticking with Low Batarian and trusting that everyone would understand it. "And something dextro, don't mind the cost. I'm meeting someone."

The pale skin around his eyes tightened a little, and his jaw tightened beneath silvery stubble. "Here?"

"Her idea." I responded blithely as several nearby conversations went silent. Several of the older types shook their heads and rose quickly, leaving credit chits next to unfinished drinks as they walked out. The drug dealer and his suppliers vanished almost as quickly, the latter pointedly not letting the former out of their sight.

By the time I'd gotten my teal-colored drink and taken a sip, the teenaged idiots, my friends, and I were the only people left in the place besides the staff... and none of said staff looked eager to stick around.

The bartender was giving the kids increasingly blatant hints to get the fuck out, which they were ignoring in favor of gawking at me and trying to convince themselves to come up and talk, when I heard the door open once again. Heavy footfalls made the chattering abruptly stop, and a few long breaths later the chair on my right was pulled out so that a massive form could drop into it.

Spectre Atia Severa was, like every other Turian I'd ever met, extremely tall and fond of heavy armor. Hers was a dark shade of grey with black accents and no visible markings, even on the numerous weapons attached to it. Short-barreled shotguns were strapped to each of her legs, with a pair of pistols just barely visible at the small of her back. A Phaeston that looked like it had been modified beyond even my skills rode high on her right shoulder blade, while a clawed hand set an even larger rifle onto the seat next to her.

"So." She asked as she shifted to properly face me, leaning an armored forearm onto the bar and flaring her mandibles wide in amusement. "You come here routinely, human?"

I snorted, noting the sounds of more feet and panicked mutters as the kids finally took the hint and fled the establishment. "The pick up line is 'Do you come here often'."

"Damn." She shook her head a little. Her plates were the color of bone, with black colonial markings giving her a dark, predatory aspect that her emerald eyes did nothing to dissuade. Even I thought she was rather striking, though Turian women really weren't my speed... I could appreciate the attitudes, but the lack of lips was just too off-putting even before you got to the clawed hands and carapace. "Did you order me a drink at least?"

A tall glass appeared before her as if by magic, the bartender quickly shuffling away to the far end and making a show of starting at one of the vid-screens displaying a football match.

"Palaven brandy." She murmured in approval as she took a sip, "I'm assuming you're buying?"

"I suppose that it depends." I replied easily, leaning back in my chair. "On whether or not we're going to be shooting each other anytime soon."

Something like a whistling chirp escaped her, a Turian snort as she shook her head. "Oh please. As if I'd be so suicidal, you've got the entire building surrounded with people, and at least two snipers watching both doors."

"Four, two teams each." I corrected. "And three squads on your real ship, and more on that back-up you paid someone to setup last week."

Another Turian smile made her mandibles shift widely before closing against her cheeks. "What about my _other_ backup?"

I started to narrow my eyes, then recognized the teasing tone in her voice at my over-preparation and sighed.

"You really need to relax a little." She took another sip of her drink, "If I wanted to kill you I wouldn't have announced I was coming, and I definitely wouldn't have poisoned the Prime Minister."

"I'd have preferred it if you killed him." I admitted, "What did you inject him with anyway?"

"A little something an Asari friend gave me." The Spectre shrugged a little, "He'll be down for another week in some of the worst agony of his life, but he'll live. Maybe it will be a learning experience."

I couldn't help but snort. Prime Minister Jon Matheau was about my least favorite person in the galaxy, and learning that he was under quarantine and thus unavailable for a conference when we'd landed had been something close to the best news I'd gotten in months. My official briefing on what had happened to That Place had been shifted to late this evening with General Ozawa, the local militia commander, a solid old Japanese man who I found infinitely more reasonable to work with.

Of course, the fact that the Spectre next to me had done it just so that we could have a lunch-time meeting instead of just getting together tomorrow threw up all kinds of warning flags. Either she was in a hurry, or she wanted a favor from me in return... or both.

"So." I asked. "You in a rush, or you just want me to owe you a minor favor?"

Feline eyes regarded me for a long breath before she dipped her head slightly, "The former, regrettably. Places to be, separatist leaders to assassinate, you know how it goes."

That drew another snort out of me. "Yeah. Suppose I should thank you for taking the time to show up at all."

One of her clawed fingers tapped the side of her glass, "Nah, no need. This is a job as well. Mind if we get started? Good. How serious is the Terminus about the Reapers?"

"Very." I shook my head, sipping from my own drink, "Warlords like Aria and die Waffe don't start massive military buildups just for fun, and Sederis isn't the kind to throw billions away on public works projects unless she thinks they're necessary."

"True." She allowed. "Another question for you. You think that bitch on Omega would let the Hierarchy send an observer when they move against the Geth?"

My lips pursed as I leaned back, the question not one that I had anticipated. "I... would hesitate to say yes. You'd probably be best off asking the Flotilla. Why?"

Her head dipped a little to one side, "If there are any other Reapers active in the galaxy, Rannoch is the most likely place for one to be sitting right now. The Primarch wants an agent with on that chance, to see if their capabilities are uniform or if each Reaper is unique. Even if there isn't, we at least get some actionable intel on Geth capabilities."

Shit. That was actually a pair of good points, and I didn't think anyone on our side had really considered either of them. I'd have to ask Aria if the drone ships she had flitting around Ilos could pick out details like that from the Reaper corpses... and as for the other... shit.

"I can ask her." I exhaled after a few more moments of though. "But you'll still want to ask the Flotilla, far more likely that they would say yes."

Her flanging voice became a bit dry, "You obviously don't know that much about our relations with the Flotilla, but I'll pass the message along."

I nodded, then leaned forwards slightly, "My turn. What is the Council doing to prepare for the Reapers, and what are they doing about the Leviathans?"

Severa settled into her chair, taking a pointed sip of her own drink before letting out a tight breath of air. "The Hierarchy is gearing up for a total war. All of our ships are being refitted, supply caches are being restocked, and all citizen tiers are being run through refresher drills, but you know all of that. We aren't a subtle people."

I felt myself smile faintly, "True, that's why I didn't ask what the Hierarchy was doing."

She took a longer sip, then sighed. "If you were a reporter I'd say this is off the record, but I'll take your word that you won't spread it around. Don't worry about the staff, they're all my people."

The bartender stiffened a little at the open admission, proving that he had been listening after all, then seemed to slump and sigh as he turned around and came over to refill our drinks.

I shook my head in bemusement, not really bothered or surprised. I'd honestly thought he was AIS, so finding out that he was on a Spectre's payroll was actually good news. "Word given."

"Council's a mess." She stated bluntly. "The Salarians aren't talking to anyone. Only a quarter of their Spectres are even around, and they're all in the dark as much as we are. Had their security clearances revoked even, so even we Spectres have no idea what the STG is even up to anymore. The Asari aren't in a good place either... Matriarch Lidanya is purging her officer corps, making sure the Council fleet is loyal to the _Council_ instead of Thessia, but no one knows how many ships of either fleet will stick around. Not many is our guess."

"Goddess..." A hand rose to rub at my face.

Her mandibles twitched once, and she continued implacably onwards. "That's why we're willing to gamble on your kind actually telling the truth about what you're up to for once. If we lose the Union and Republics, or worse, they side with these Leviathan things..."

"You need a counter-weight." I finished for her, grabbing my refilled drink and taking two long mouthfuls of the fruit-alcohol mix. "Shit. Even if the Traditionalists win in the Hegemony, they won't be in shape for a fight."

Severa nodded grimly. "It'll be just us and the Alliance against the Reapers, and Earth isn't in the best condition either. The war hawks might have won the last election, but the isolationists cost them time they badly needed. Their fleet is in good shape, up to seven fleets, but their ground forces..."

She didn't have to finish the sentence, I knew that score as well as she did. The isolationist movement in the Alliance had, at least, kept up naval construction thanks to the deep-seated fear of the Hegemony, but they hadn't seen the need to keep paying for large numbers of ground troops at the same time. While ships _did_ matter a lot more against Reapers than marines did, the latter weren't useless by any means, and could definitely have been re-assigned for fight the Asari or Salarians if the Leviathans decided to turn the fight into a three-way brawl instead of just sitting it out until the opportune moment.

Of course, that was assuming that the Salarians were actually working with the Leviathans at all, and weren't just off on their own tangent... shit. Those crazies were capable of damn near anything, and I liked the idea of them being on their own even _less_ then I liked the idea of them beholden to giant space shrimp.

"Athame's ass..." My hands rose to rub at my face tiredly. All of this about lined up with how Sederis and Aria had thought the situation was, thanks to their own contacts, but I'd held out a tiny bit of hope that things weren't quite that fucked up. As it was, Severa had basically confirmed that it was just going to be us and the Turians who would be something close to ready when the war came, with the Alliance doing its best to catch up.

"Are the Asari fucking with you to try and slow building down?" I asked, aiming for a support question rather than a direct one. So far she hadn't really told me anything actually classified, nothing that Aethyta likely didn't already know. It wasn't _bad_ information, and it was good to have the confirmation, but I knew better than to ask about things like the Crucible or Turian war plans. Even _asking_ would probably make her shut up entirely, and that was the last thing I needed right now.

"They're trying." She confirmed, her tone becoming irritated. "The Volus are managing the economic infiltration, better than usual."

I grunted, jumping onto what I thought the implication was. "You promised them independence after the war, didn't you?"

The Spectre blinked once, neither confirming nor denying that. "For the most part their overt activities seem to be focused on the Terminus and Traverse, as I'm sure that you've noticed."

"We've noticed." I sighed. "I don't suppose you can do anything about that? I don't want to have to deal with a Nightwind or STG team trying to kill me or my people on top of all of my other problems."

"Not getting involved is the best we can do." Her head shook, as I'd expected. "But that brings us to you. The Hierarchy and Councilor want assurances that you're out here actually doing something worth doing, that the Asari aren't right about you. What happened at New Giza?"

I couldn't help but grimace. "We're already being blamed for that?"

"You _did_ scatter recon satellites throughout the Traverse." She retorted dryly. "And one of your corvettes was the first ship on the scene after what happened. A suspicious person might think a mercenary was trying to make sure his contract was extended through a few judicious terror attacks."

"It wasn't us," I wasn't any good at reassuring tones, so I just stuck with my usual blunt honesty. "My people are good, but we aren't abduct everyone on a colony without firing a shot good. And it wasn't just New Giza, That Place got hit as well. I've got fragmentary sensor data, we lost a few of those satellites, but I'm reasonably sure that it was the Collectors."

Severa stared at me for several breaths, as if waiting for the punchline. When none came, she shook her head, "The Collectors? Why not blame the Rachni, or the Protheans?"

In response, I brought my omni-tool up and loaded the only direct image that the _Fireball_ had picked up from our probes. It was from very long range, and with a cheap imager at that, so it wasn't the best quality... but the oddly shaped vessel exiting the colony's atmosphere was clearly not anything in our arsenal.

I spoke as she leaned forwards slightly, regarding the image. "That roughly matches the profile of the last time a Collector ship was seen."

"That was four centuries ago, in Patriarch's time." She pointed out, shaking her head a little. "I'll need a copy of that, make sure that it isn't faked."

My fingers flicked in a few quick gestures, sending the picture along with all of the extra sensor data. "There's also other data in there. Particle tracings, some kind of jamming signal, bunch of other crap that I'm not really versed in. The main question I'm still trying to work out is _how_ they took everyone, and how we can counter it if they come after my clients."

The Spectre tilted her head a little, as if understanding. "I see... you wanted to keep track of the other colonies, see who attacked them, what their tactics were so you'd be prepared if anyone picked a fight with you."

I dipped my head a little. It was, strictly speaking, true, though I'd always known that the Collectors would be the enemy we were watching for where she assumed that I'd been hoping to observe pirates in action.

"The Collectors." She murmured the word quietly, throwing back the last of her brandy. "If they are active, and... _collecting,_ that's going to be another problem to deal with. But if I can confirm that, at least we'll know you aren't a problem..."

"Small victories? Or draws, I guess." I shook my head before finishing off my own drink. "I'll forward you what data we gather from here on out if it'll keep the Council off my back, but I'll want something in return."

A single claw tapped onto the bar, "Which is?"

"Cerberus." I replied quietly, "Is very active in the Traverse... and they're up to something, a Project Prometheus. I want to know what it is and where it's happening. If it's a threat, I'll also want your assistance in shutting it down."

She blinked again, just once, a small tell of surprise. "Cerberus... I thought you were rather cozy with them."

I didn't bother to hide my sneer, "We've used each other in the past, but I have no love for them or they for me... and I've been informed that the Illusive Man could be looking for some payback."

"Informed?" The question seemed to come out before she could stop herself, and she shook her head when I merely lifted an eyebrow in response. "I see... I'll do what I can if your information keeps coming in. Deal?"

My right hand rose, and her clawed hand clasped it in reply. Then she nodded to me, flicked her eyes to where my companions continued to drink and watch us, then hopped off of her chair with a clatter of armor. Hefting her sniper rifle up and onto a shoulder, she strode out without another word.

I watched her go, not relaxing until the door shut behind her. "Seriously Igor? A Spectre resource? Here I thought you were an upstanding criminal like the rest of us."

The bartender flushed a little, "Got a granddaughter on Earth, University of Moscow. Need the tuition money."

I snorted and shook my head as I got to my feet, "Yeah. She live with your terminally ill sister, right down the street from your destitute mother?"

"They all live in the same shack." He replied stiffly, but there was a slight smile on his wrinkled face. "And all of them have cancer."

I couldn't help but grin at that, my head shaking as I put a credit chit onto the bar. "Three thousand cover it all?"

"Yes." A slender hand made the money vanish, "There's a few rumors coming out of Freedom's Progress, but nothing concrete yet. I'll keep asking around, see if I can corroborate anything that Atia gives you."

"Thanks." I dipped my head a fraction to the left, then turned and headed for the door. To my right, my companions all rose from their booth, easily catching me as I slowed down to pull my helmet on. They quickly followed suit, and we all stepped out into the cloud-covered city.

It wasn't like the memories that the Matriarch had shoved into my head, not even slightly. I was sure that it did exist somewhere on planet, but New Progress wasn't a tiny, recently settled colony. The city sprawled out fairly comfortably, and most of its prefabs had been replaced with actual buildings... at least in other areas. Where we were, near the main starport, prefabs still dominated the landscape since their owners tended to fluctuate on a week to week basis.

Atop many of them, men and women in navy and silver relaxed on seeing all four of us, clicks sounding off as units began to pack up and get moving. For our part, we piled into a nearby aircar, Voya taking the controls and the Asari hopping into the back.

"So." Shyeel leaned forwards behind me, a hand holding onto the back of my seat as Voya got us airborne. "That went better than anticipated."

"Worse than it could have gone though." Illyan added, settling back into her seat. "I mean, sure we got some confirmation on the political crap, but she didn't sound all that convinced on the Collectors."

"Can you blame her?" My fellow Reyja'krem shook her head. "I mean, Cie's rep as being honest isn't going to mean much to a Spectre. Those crazies don't believe or trust anyone, even their own bosses. I'm surprised she agreed to trade info at all."

I sighed and corrected her, "She said she would do what she can. Definitely not a guarantee that she will, but it's worth a try. Besides, we'd have to kick her or someone else the information we get on the Collectors anyway, if just to try and keep the Corsairs off of us."

Voya let out a prim little sound, "You mean to keep the Butcher off of us."

The remark drew a grimace, though my helmet at least stopped her from seeing it. "...same thing. Point is that what we need right now is more time, and if they at least look into it, that's all we really need."

"Time." Shyeel muttered the word, letting herself fall back with a groan as Voya adjusted course, heading for the makeshift fortifications that were still being built just outside of the city. "Athame's ass, but that's getting up there with 'complicated'. We always need more goddess-damned time for one stupid thing or another."

Gloved fingers tightened slightly around the controls as Voya tensed up, and Illyan shifted a little uncomfortably.

I could only sigh. I liked the crap out of the scarred Matron, but goddess she really need to work on realizing what she was saying. "Shyeel..."

Even with her armor I could see her wince a little. "...shit, you know what I meant."

Illyan rested a broad hand on one of her thighs, wordlessly forgiving her. Voya wasn't quite so easy... mentioning or even alluding to the fact that I might have only a few years of life in me was practically a guarantee that she would get irritated regardless of how it was brought up. Talking more on it didn't really do shit besides put her in a worse mood, so we generally just lingered nearby and let her work her way through it.

The Quarian was silent for nearly a minute, then spoke on a new subject as we flew. "The Cerberus project. Prometheus."

I grunted quietly. "What about it?"

She shifted her helmet a little, letting two glowing eyes narrow at me. "That name wasn't in any of the Broker information packets."

"No." I agreed. "It wasn't."

Something like a low growl preceded her next words, "So where did you hear it? Aria?"

"No." I repeated, my tone becoming cautious, warning her to stop asking.

Naturally, that just annoyed her even more. "Cieran Kean. You're keeping secrets from us... _again_. Unless one of you idiots knows something?"

Shyeel shook her head, while Illyan rolled a shoulder. "Probably those weird messages that started coming in two months ago. The ones that my sister says are in code. I think it's got something to do with wherever he and Ghai ran off to with T'Soni before his surgery, but he won't say crap."

"Cieran." Voya glared a bit more. "What's that about?"

"Voya." I sighed, shaking my head. "I'm keeping this one quiet, all right?"

It obviously wasn't all right from the way her breathing hitched irritably, and her head shook a little as if she was rustling her hair. Still, she seemed to let it go, for now, which probably boded ill for me in the future... but for now, she seemed content to stew in anger and let the rest of the short flight pass in an extremely tense silence.

Her voice was more than a little clipped when she brought us towards the main hub for the defense of Horizon, answering the First Regiment's challenge as a ground controller demanded our identification.

While she dealt with that, I leaned against my window and got a better look of what Nara had been up to while we were gone. What had once been a militia training ground on the hills overlooking the city now resembled a massive construction zone, with prefabricated bunkers being lowered into gaping pits dug into the ground, while towering cranes hauled GARDIAN towers upright under tight supervision. Three fortified apartment complexes, the same design that Ayle used at our base on Xentha, were also going up, and I could easily see at least two different areas that would become artillery parks soon enough.

"How much crap is down there?" Shyeel asked quietly, staring out her own window as we circled towards the nearest landing zone.

"Entire first regiment." I replied easily, my greybox supplying the data. "Plus four militia battalions and their armored company. Second regiment is split between Old Progress, Haventown, and Homestead with more militia units backing them up."

She grunted softly. "And you think all this will be done before the Collectors show?"

"This? Sure." My head shook a little, "The bunkers around the city, its own GARDIAN array, getting the militia better training and gear, and some way to stop the bugs from just paralyzing everyone that doesn't involve Asari making bubble barriers? No idea."

My fellow Reyja'krem sighed as our car drifted down to a landing, "You're always so good for morale Cie."

Illyan snorted, "He knows. That's why he's got us... well, me. You're crap at being optimistic too, and let's not even get started on Voya."

Voya muttered something dark and impolite under her breath as she kicked her door open, all of us following her example and clambering out of the car. Our landing pad was just an upraised mound of flattened dirt with stairs worked into the sides, but a welcoming party was already trotting up them and offering quick Batarian bows in salute.

"Vishin." I returned the gesture, blinking a little in surprise. "Joa. What are you two doing here?"

The former leader of the _Reliant's_ marines, now the Senior Captain of our Second Regiment, rolled his broad, Batarian shoulders in a shrug. He was wearing the dark navy 'formal' uniform, silver edges in the right places accentuating his massive frame. As much as I didn't care for dressing up, I could only admit that Nynsi had done an excellent job with the design. "Captain ul Thui thought it best that I attend the briefing with the General."

"And I," Joa was very much not in armor, or in much of her uniform for that matter. She'd evidently decided to copy Jacqueline's fashion sense, wearing her regulation boots and navy colored slacks... and nothing but a band around her breasts above the waist. "Was bored as shit in orbit and thought I'd break up the monotony. Honestly Cie, no one is going to attack us besides those bugs. Even _Traverse_ pirates have some damned sense."

Snorting, I reached up and pulled my helmet off, shaking my not-long-enough hair a bit as I did. "I'm not letting you go hunting Joa."

The Asari sighed theatrically before giving Voya a disappointed look. "You said you'd work on him."

The Quarian twitched a shoulder, rolling her glowing eyes through her visor. "I tried. He won't even think about pirate hunting until the _Headsman_ is ready."

I smiled a little at Joa's expression, patting her bare shoulder as I walked past her. "You'll survive another few weeks. Vishin, where are Nara and the General?"

He dipped his head politely and waved a hand, "The command bunker, Reyja'krem. It's finally online and functional."

That was something, ahead of schedule even. Our party duly got moving in the right direction, sweating soldiers of various species moving out of our way as they kept working on getting our base up and running. I waved them off every time they made to stop what they were doing to bow in salute, which earned smiles and bemused looks from more than a few of them... especially the militia.

They were easily identifiable thanks to their green and tan camouflage uniforms, and their mixed nervous, awed, and irritated appearances as they worked beside the Terminus mercenaries their political leaders had brought in to support them. I made sure to nod politely to them as well when we walked past, it cost me nothing and I didn't need more people thinking I was an arrogant ass, and felt more than saw Illyan smile a little in approval as I did.

We reached our destination after a few minutes of walking, a neat box cut down into the black soil, filled with a stairwell trailing downwards into the ground.

"This going to be the emergency exit?" I asked as we descended, armored boots clattering in the enclosed space.

"Yes." Vishin nodded from his place behind me, "It will be camouflaged and trapped as per the blueprints. The main entrance will be attached on the other side of the hill, you'd have seen the work and the exposed part of the bunker if we'd walked around the rise, but we have to get the primary power plant installed first. Secondary is online and powering everything right now."

Auxillery power already? They really were ahead of schedule, none of this was supposed to have been done for another two weeks.

I was in a considerably better mood when we reached the bottom, pushing aside my worry over the Spectre and Voya's irritation at my secrecy as I heaved an armored door open. Two armored Batarian men immediately aimed carbines at my skull, then almost as immediately jerked them upright with cursed apologies.

"Relax." I fought not to laugh a little at their jumpiness, "How bad did it sound?"

"Damn echos." One of them admitted, shifting his helmet to show embarrassment. "Even one person sounds like a hundred, honored Reyja'krem. The lift can't be finished soon enough."

Still amused, I nodded and made my way past them, moving down a short hallway before pushing open another door to enter the future command center for the defense of Horizon. Officers of several species worked at consoles and around holographic tables, directing the work occurring above and making plans for what would happen after. A quick glance around confirmed that vast majority of the officers were Batarian women, with a good few Asari thrown in... Nara's preferred hiring practices hard at work.

I'd let her pick her own subordinates, but I'd also given her two warnings after realizing who she was picking. All the males who were also qualified, or more qualified, had to end up in similar positions in the other regiments... and the people she picked had better fucking perform. Nara had assured me that they would, and we hadn't spoke on the subject since.

The Senior Captain in question looked up as we approached the central display, the petite Batarian woman giving me a quick leftward head-bow and a smile. Beside her, General Ozawa merely regarded me with the same stoicism he always did. His Asiatic features were withered by age and hard living, but his eyes were sharp and alert as we approached, and his tan uniform was plain and practical, a far cry from the over-designed crap I'd seen a few militia on other colonies indulge in.

"Nara." I greeted my subordinate first, responding in kind to her respect, "General. Ready to get to work?"

Nara rolled her upper eyes, her teal lips curling a little. "Some of us can't run off to Omega to avoid real work, unlike certain ragged humans."

I snorted as I approached the table. I'd managed to get it through Nara's head that, just because Illyan and I had broken up, that didn't mean that I was going to jump into her bed and let her run things in a direction that I didn't want. Her initial reaction had been surprise, and then bemusement as she toned the flirtation down a bit. These days we acted more like the old war friends that we were, though she was more careful to respect my authority than she had been in the past.

Of course, I was pretty sure she was sleeping with Vishin these days, which was probably also helping.

"I only warrant ragged today? Things must be going well." I flicked my eyes to the General. "Two weeks ahead of schedule?"

"Two and a half." He replied almost serenely, "Your Senior Captains elected to institute a competition between them, bonus pay and leave for the units that most efficiently achieve their construction goals. Some of my officers heard of it and insisted that they be involved as well."

I lifted an eyebrow, "And the Prime Minister agreed?"

It was far beneath his dignity to smile wickedly, but I could tell that he wanted to. "Not quite, but I proposed a resolution that your people accepted."

When I glanced at Nara, she rolled a shoulder. "One of my Huntress teams may, or may not, have burgled the rat's personal wine cellar and absconded with everything inside of it."

Shyeel cackled behind me, the sound cutting off in time with footsteps moving quickly away as she departed to compose herself. Voya merely rolled her eyes, but the glowing orbs were culled behind her armored visor, and Illyan had a broad grin as she shook her head.

"Let me guess," She asked, "The winning unit gets a whole lot of expensive booze?"

"Something like that." Nara shrugged, "Productivity and morale are up across the board in either case, I assumed that you would approve."

"Oh I do." I assured her, bowing my head low and a bit to the left. "Do you think you'll stay on your current pace?"

She flicked all of her eyes to Ozawa in response, the General stepping politely towards the table and manipulating the controls. A moment later a map of Horizon's main inhabited region flickered to life, showing the four major cities along with the dozen or so smaller communities. Icons showing the various units, both his and ours, promptly appeared as well, and I drew myself into a more formal pose as I regarded the screen.

Everyone in the room quieted a little as the General began to speak, his hands settled behind his back. "We are currently on pace to complete construction of the new military complexes late next month, three weeks ahead of our primary schedule. If nothing else it is making parliament quite content, we should conclude under-budget as well."

Vishin grunted as he moved to stand beside me, "Until they hear that we want more GARDIAN towers."

Ozawa dipped his head, "Quite. The civilian shelters are, unfortunately, taking more time due to their locations within the cities. Many who own land at the proposed locations are refusing the compensation plans."

I pursed my lips a little, "We can't exactly find new locations that would let the optimal number of people get to them in an emergency... do they just not care about things like survival in an emergency?"

The General regarded me somewhat primly, "It is their land, Commander, and the current refrain is that such complexes should not be required given how much we are paying you and yours."

Nara quickly stepped in even as my mouth opened again, "Negotiations are proceeding, but that is a civilian matter. Our own facilities will be completed well in advance of a probable attack, Collector or otherwise."

Right... civilians, and not the kind I was used to either. I shook my head a little and pushed that issue aside. Callous as it was, if the locals couldn't build their own fallout shelters, that was going to be their problem. We had enough issues preparing for everything else without adding civilian intransigence to the list.

"You reviewed the data then?" I asked, glancing around to find Joa.

"Yeah, we did." My fleet commander nodded from where she was leaning her bare back against Illyan's side, my Harath'krem flushing a little when I raised my eyebrows. "Definitely not being powered by anything we'd consider a normal power plant, but it didn't read much like Sovereign either."

"Meaning?" I asked.

"Meaning I need more data." She shook her head, crossing her legs and leaning a bit more, treating Illyan as if she was just a convenient pillar. "Based on what little we've got, I'm pretty sure that thing is going to be faster and more maneuverable than it looks, and the goddess only knows what its defensive barriers will be like. Or its offensive firepower, our other satellites were taken out by some kind of drone fighter equipped with infrared lasers. I've got my people running close formation and anti-small craft drills in case that ship is actually a carrier."

I grunted, nodding in approval. "Good thinking. Nara?"

The small woman grimaced openly, "We still don't have anything on how the Collectors took everyone. The assumption that it's a paralyzing agent seems accurate, but how it got through all of the colony's filters and into the main buildings is an unknown. If your data on it being some kind of... bio-mechanical insect is correct, Asari could conceivably hold it back via biotics, but..."

"But I have fourteen biotics total; five retired L2's and nine Asari non-commissioned officers." Ozawa supplied. "We would need to divide all of your Hunting teams from both regiments just to shelter both your and our formations."

Athame's... I blew out a sharp breath, "Draw up plans to divide them as needed on the first sign of a Collector ship. We'll have to hope that we find something we can use at the sight of the next attack."

Eyes tightened as the General's expression became pained, "You expect there to be more?"

"Probably." I exhaled. "We can't just assume they'll stop at two, but we'll leave them aside until we get more data. Are we prepared for more conventional attacks?"

Vishin snorted. "More than ready, Reyja'krem. We've had a few independent ships buzz through the system, but they rabbited the moment the _Reliant_ lit off her engines."

"Cowards." Joa muttered, clearly annoyed that she hadn't been able to kill anything in several months. Illyan wrapped a broad arm around her, and that seemed to perk her up slightly even as it made me blink.

"Soon as the _Headsman_ passes her shake-down, you can propose a few operations to go hunting." I sighed as I confirmed that for her, "Nothing more than a day out though."

She gave me a sharp grin even as Ozawa frowned a little, "Hunting?"

"There's at least five or six small pirate bands operating in the cluster." I supplied, "None of them have been so bold as to attack you here, but New Canton isn't far off and we've only got two ships there. I'd rather clear them out before they get the bright idea to try something, and if we can make a statement doing so all the better."

"Ah." He nodded slightly, "Such a maneuver would reassure many who are... unhappy with how their taxes are being spent, and perhaps inspire the Corsairs to stop lurking in the halo."

I didn't doubt that, we weren't exactly a cheap hire, and anything that might get those Alliance assholes farther away was worth trying. "Any particular targets that might win us some points?"

The General frowned once again, his eyes going distant for several breaths. "Captain Henus and his band, if you can find them. They aided the Circle in the raid a few years ago."

I glanced at Joa, and she nodded, "I know the Turian, bit of a jack-ass even for a pirate. I'll see if anyone knows where he is, draw up an operation. Might need some troops though, he's a slaver."

Vishin spoke up quickly, "I can allocate a Platoon. Hunting or Line?"

The Asari pressed her purple lips together for a long moment, "Give me two Huntress squads, and three or four Line ones."

He nodded, already bringing his omni-tool up to scroll through potential candidates. The conversation shifted a little after that, turning towards what our plan would be while I was on planet. I wanted to be off before Matheau recovered, much to Nara and Vishin's annoyance, but thy still helped me draw up a quick inspection tour of all of the various construction sites.

After that we'd be heading back up to the _Noln_ and heading off to Nagato for a similar inspection run, before meeting up with Trena's team on New Canton along with the Fourth Regiment's command staff and first Hunting company, plus the Lancer team from Xentha that Shyeel and Voya had put together in their time there. Once all of that was done with, it would be back to Omega to help Ghai train the other regiments and to wait for the next crisis to show up.

My personal bet was a thousand on the Collectors, with Voya and Vishin in agreement. Joa put her own money on Cerberus and had convinced Shyeel to do the same, while Nara and Illyan were equally certain that the Corsairs would be the next to try something. We'd had to downgrade the bets to five hundred after the command staff had gotten involved with their own ideas, with Nara's Asari yeoman quickly setting up a display to keep track of the various claims as people threw them out.

Ozawa had only been able to sigh as he realized he was the only one still working, his eyes closing as if he was trying to justify how much his government was spending on us.

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communication Log**_

 _Voya'chi: That. Never. Happened._

 _Terro'chak: I take it your brother wasn't supposed to tell us that story?_

 _Voya'chi: I'm going to cut his dick off. Tell him that._

 _Terro'chak: I don't think his human toy would appreciate that._

 _Voya'chi: I don't care._

 _Terro'chak: *laughs* All right, I'll tell him before we leave._

 _Voya'chi: Good. And remember, you had better beat that little bitch's team when you show up._

 _Terro'chak: Afraid we'll make you look bad?_

 _Voya'chi: If I have to deal with her gloating that her team is better than the one I trained, I will be extremely annoyed._

 _Terro'chak: More or less annoyed than you are with your brother for telling everyone you slept with Asari twins?_

 _Voya'chi: That. Never. Happened._

* * *

 _ **Next ups is Chapter 3: Love and Knowledge**_

 _And we finally get to see a small piece of Horizon and run into a new friendly-ish face. We'll be skipping the inspection tours of Horizon and Nagato in favor of moving on to New Canton, where we'll get to meet the Lancer team that Shyeel and Voya put together for Ayle while they were away._

 _A quick note on this act's duration. Like Act 1, it will last for ten chapters total, though it will be following a steadier story arc._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Tallygirl02 → And the sad thing is we've only gone... what, six or seven chapters without a firefight breaking out?

Griezz → Cerberus isn't telling anyone anything, shocker. Jack and Trena will be getting more than just little cameos, but we're back to the Vengeance problem of having a very large number of characters around. As much as I want to write a lot about how they all interact, the story wouldn't go anywhere if I did, so some things have to fall off a bit and just be alluded to.


	23. Act 3-3: Love and Knowledge

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act III: The Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Love and Knowledge**

 _Date:_ 02-17-2186

 _Location:_ Outside of Greenfields, New Canton _,_ Moyra System, Attican Traverse

* * *

"Trena's team is leading four to three now." I mused as I laid in the long savanna grass, entirely comfortable even with my armor on. Nearby, a portable holo-table had just updated the score, Voya pausing her nervous pacing for a long moment before quickly resuming. "Voya, you need to calm down."

"I am calm." She growled back, stepping over Illyan's sleeping form. "It's first to five, they'll win the next two... and I'm fine."

"Uh huh." Shyeel drawled from where she was laying next to me, the pair of us having been passing a flask of rum back and forth whenever Voya hadn't been looking. "That's why you're keeping you visor polarized, so we can't see you licking your lips constantly."

"And why you keep muting your speakers so we can't hear you cursing." I added.

"And why you reminded us-"

Voya turned, her visor clearing to show her narrowed eyes as both of her hands fell to her knives. "I. Am. Fine."

"Round eight is starting." I replied dryly, snorting a little when she immediately whipped her head back to the display. "Honestly Voya, you're acting like Trena is going to become insufferable just because she beat the team you trained in exercises."

"She's already insufferable." The Quarian replied darkly, shifting her attention to the forest a few hundred meters away. The staccato cracks of gunfire began to sound off as the engagement began, Lancer teams two and three meeting in yet another round of their war game.

Sighing, I let my head fall back onto the soft ground, trying to enjoy the sunlight while I could. New Canton had turned out to be much like Illium in the sense that, excepting the polar regions, it was a nearly uninhabitable hotbox... but those polar regions were pretty damned comfortable to live in. Plenty of rolling plains, small forests and little seas, with just enough mountains to break up the monotony.

Even better, the locals were far more rough and tumble than the colonists on Horizon and Nagato. They'd all lived through pirate attacks, and lost friends and family to death and slavers. Everyone was armed, every home was a fortress, and they had a veritable army of mechs to defend their farms and mining operations. An extra bonus was the absence of fear when I walked down a street, instead there was a kind of gruff tolerance... as if they were willing to accept us, but they weren't about to get close to anyone until we'd proven ourselves to them.

It wasn't quite Illium... but it was a close second.

"So." Shyeel yawned as she also dropped onto her back, her arms briefly obscuring my view of the sky as she stretched them upwards. "We're just going to retire here, right? Build a little fort and hold up?"

"Don't tempt me." I replied with a yawn of my own. "Goddess. When was the last time we just relaxed like this?"

"Xentha, not that long ago..." She answered, though her voice trailed off a little. "Well, we kind of did. You were recovering, not really the same thing. Then you were working on and off, or dealing with crap... when was the last time you just lounged in grass?"

Had I ever? "Probably... on Omega, before things went to the deeps. Four... goddess, five years ago now... huh."

"What?"

I did some mental math. "I just realized... I haven't killed anyone in seven months."

"Really?" She actually leaned up, shifting to rest on her elbows as she frowned. "That seems like a long time. Who was it?"

I shook my head. "That Batarian rapist we drew up in public after they found him with those girls."

"Oh yeah, that _keshin._ " Shyeel shook her head before dropping back to the ground with a quiet huff. "Still... seven months."

"Yeah." Another yawn broke my words apart, "I think that's the longest I've gone since I woke up on Illium."

"Huh." She offered quietly, clearly not quite knowing what to say.

Which was fair really, I didn't know what to think about that, much less what to say. I was pretty sure that wasn't the kind of thought that a normal person had... even a normal Terminus person. Most people could go their entire lives without killing anyone, here I was amazed that I'd gone half a year without ending the life of at least _one_ other sapient being.

"How long for sex?" Shyeel's voice broke my from my musings on that, and I couldn't help but snort at her method of changing the topic.

"Eleven months." Since Illyan and I had broken up, and so far I'd resisted the many options available for me to end that particular run. This was despite my testosterone's insistence that I enjoy life to the fullest since I didn't know how long I had. While my brain could agree with the sentiment... I wasn't going to shack up with a prostitute or one of the many female subordinates I probably could have invited to my rooms. That just... wasn't me, and I wasn't about to change that part of me just because I was dying.

If Ayle had been around my self-control probably wouldn't have lasted. She, far more than Nara, knew how to present herself and act in order to lure me into her bed. Further, she was probably the only person I _knew_ I could be strictly casual with without anything more appearing, but she and her temptations remained in the far-off Hegemony, fighting her way towards Khar'shan along with the allied army that Balak and Nynsi had gathered.

"Not sure I could go that long." Shyeel admitted quietly, probably to avoid drawing Voya's attention as the Quarian kept pacing around the display. "Especially... shit. Walk with me?"

I sighed, shifting an arm to cover my eyes as the local sun emerged from behind a cloud. "That involves getting up."

"Mmm... good point. We'll talk later then." Armor shifted and creaked as she moved herself, and soon enough a body was pressing into my side and a head was on my shoulder as she yawned again.

The sporadic sound of gunfire from the treeline was enough to lull me to sleep in short order, though it felt like I'd barely closed my eyes before a foot was jamming into my side.

"Wake up." Voya's irritated voice came at the same time as the second kick, "Keelah, I can't believe you three _bosh'tets_ all fell asleep out in the open like this."

"It over?" I asked, not bothering to uncover my eyes.

"Yes." She all but growled. "The little bitch's team won five rounds to four, they're headed this way now."

"Good for them." I yawned again, my brain too tired to really process what she was saying. "Wake me up when they're here."

A much sharper kick made me groan, muttered vitriol coming from her helmet's speakers as I heard her stalk away. Rolling onto my side took too much effort, and actually getting to my feet even more. Shyeel was equally as out of it, both of us having to help the other stay upright while Voya kicked Illyan awake as well.

My Harath'krem took that about as well as could be expected, forcing me to snap awake in a rush, my voice cracking as I snapped off their names. "Illyan! Voya!"

The tall Asari jerked a little and settled back onto the ground, the biotic light fading around her arms even as Voya took a quick step back, her hands freezing in the motion of going towards her weapons.

"Goddess..." I exhaled, "Ever since Horizon you two have been at each others throats, and it's already getting old. When we get back to Greenfields, you two are going to spar and work it the fuck out."

Neither one of them looked happy about that, and both avoided my sharp glare before Voya huffed and stalked a bit farther away. Illyan flushed a little when my attention turned more to her, heaving herself to her feet slowly before shaking her head in response to my silent question.

"That's part of what you and I need to talk about." Shyeel sighed, keeping her voice low.

I could only grimace and twitch my head in a nod, the blessed relaxation I'd felt already vanishing. Stooping down, I grabbed my armored trench coat from where I'd tossed it on the ground hours ago, shaking it out before putting it back on. The others slowly followed suit, though Voya and Illyan didn't so much as look at each other or me if they could help it.

The awkward situation lasted until the other Lancers arrived, all of them looking tired but content after a long day training.

It had been Terro's idea to change the logo for each unit to differentiate the various teams, though he'd kept a similar theme to the charging Lancer that my team bore. The broad-shouldered Xenthan male hefted his rifle onto his shoulder, his coat bearing the logo of a spear wielding Quarian warrior astride Rannoch's version of a dire wolf. Beside him, Trena cackled at something he said, her own unit's emblem that of a nude Asari standing on the prow of a boat, her arms hurling a harpoon at an unseen target.

Nynsi, Ayle, and I had all come down hard on her for the nude part, only to find out that she'd already had the patches sewn into the coats before we could stop her. Typical scales... we really should have seen that coming.

Directly to her left was Raik Chek, the Krogan looming over Jacqueline and Washana, the human and Asari both loudly calling the large male a liar about some claim he was making. To their own left was Vessian, walking with Herra, a dark plated Turian woman from Terro's team who looked like she was bemusedly shooting down his attempts to flirt with her. Her sharp blue facial paint marked her as Xenthan, though I hadn't talked with her much.

Behind them came the only other Krogan, a female who called herself Ganar Nikros. Like Chek she was another of Okeer's former agents, having been cut loose when the psychopath had gone into hiding at the end of the war. She'd freely admitted that she'd joined up for the promise of battling things she'd never gotten to kill before... and she'd struck up a strange friendship with Mirala, the demon beside her listening intently as she spoke.

I regarded Mirala for a few long breaths, fighting the urge to sigh. I'd felt like an idiot after realizing just who she was after not noticing for so goddess-damned long, and that had made the headache about how to handle her and her sisters even worse. In the end we'd come up with something like a progression plan, with Falere and Rila being sent to our compound on Xentha. Initially they were kept under house arrest, more or less, until they'd proven they could control their... _urges._ These days they were allowed out while under escort, and had another year of that before Idas would let them go off on their own. But from what I'd heard so far, they were awed and ecstatic at even the minimal level of trust we'd shown so far, if a bit overwhelmed with culture shock.

Flicking my eyes in the other direction, I felt myself shaking my head at the sight of the rest of Terro's team. Ken and Jin ul Besaid were a rarity amongst Batarians, being identical twin brothers. I'd only spoken with them once and found them to be... weird. Even by my standards. Ken only spoke in Highborn, while Jin only spoke lowborn, and they seemed to enjoy weirding people out by speaking in sync with each other.

And off to the right, farther away from the main group than even Mirala, was Deshi'roa. Another young Quarian male, he was a Trophy Taker much as Voya was, though his own kill necklace was far sparser than hers. Terro had repeatedly assured me, Trena, and Shyeel that Deshi wasn't bigoted, he was just extremely socially awkward and preferred the company of his drone VI's to the company of other souls.

"Hey ape!" Trena called as the crowd drew closer, "What did you think of all that shit?"

I rolled a shoulder, "Suppose it was good enough scales."

My friend started to preen, then got close enough to see my expression. "...you ass, you didn't pay any attention did you?"

"Voya was freaking out enough." I rolled a shoulder even as said woman gave me a rude gesture with her hands, "Still, score says Terro gave you a good run. You think you're ready to head to the Hegemony?"

Terro'chak crossed his arms, "I'd like some more time to train, but that's every commander ever. So long as Commander Massa has a few warm-up runs for us, I think we're good to head out."

I glanced at Shyeel and Voya as the pair moved to stand together, the latter's anger at Illyan vanishing as they regarded the six people they'd handpicked and trained for Ayle. "You two agree?"

Voya's helmet dipped slowly as Shyeel placed a hand on her shoulder, "Yes. They destroyed the Kithan's best line teams on Xentha, and went close to even with the little... with T'Laria's team. They can take whatever dregs of the SIU are left."

Ganar Nikros let out a deep chuckle, her smooth black crest shifting as she shook her head. "And maybe take a few trophies from those Patriarchs on Khar'shan when we get there."

That drew a snort from Shyeel, "Please, I know most of those fat bastards. You won't get a good fight from most of them. Look for House Crodari if you want people who will give you a trophy worth bragging about, more than half of the core family is Warrior caste. Their Patriarch is a really built asshole, and their palace is a bloody fortress. It's hard to miss."

Nikros pulled her broad lips back in a grin, and Deshi nodded slowly as if he was memorizing the information.

"Right," I spoke into the pause that followed, "Let's get everything packed up and head back to the city. Drinks on the corporate account tonight."

Terro shifted a little, tilting his helmet, "You four aren't going to take a turn against one of us?"

If Voya and Illyan weren't at each others throats, I'd have probably accepted the implied challenge... but since they were, I thought it better to decline for now. "Not in the field, but we'll match you in alcohol consumption. Well, excepting Chek and Nikros. They get to just compete with each other."

"Ha!" The female of the pair boomed out a laugh, "I'd put that tea drinking fossil under the table in the first hour."

Chek, predictably, swelled up a bit. "Kean, find us a place that serves ryncol so I can teach this pup to respect her elders."

That drew amused comments and laughter as the sixteen of us got to work collecting our various gear, collapsing the table and its attendant sensors before hauling all of it over to the shuttles that had brought us out this far.

It didn't take us long to fly back to Greenfields, the city much like the others I'd seen on Horizon and Nagato; a mix of permanent and prefabricated buildings, though it had more of the former rather than the latter in comparison to New Progress. Further, it lacked Horizon's meandering urban sprawl in favor of neat, orderly streets that ran in a perfect grid pattern.

Towering above the low-slung structures were several old GARDIAN towers, the emitters scavenged from some warship and then mounted on whatever materials could be scrounged up. A pair of equally make-shift sensor towers fed data to them, and from the sky it was easy to see that more than half of the homes and businesses had fortifications on their rooftops in order to help turn every street into a kill zone.

None of that would do them all that much good against a Collector attack, but pirates and slavers would have been leery about attacking even before one of my regiments been hired on as extra security. If anything, most of our job was going to be helping protect the more far-flung farming and mining communities from the smarter raiders who had begun avoiding Greenfields entirely.

Our flight was a short one, ending with our shuttles landing on the rooftop of our current headquarters; the five story hotel that was the only building of its kind in the city. Its owners had practically fallen over themselves in delight when our first people had arrived and chosen to operate out of it, their usual customers being the smugglers and freighter crews who made trips to the colony... and even the privates in my corporation had more spending cash than such individuals. I was reasonably sure that most of the money we were being paid we being pumped right back into the local economy, which at least made the locals a bit more tolerant of our presence.

We separated after securing the craft, heading to our various rooms so that everyone could shower and get cleaned up a bit before heading out on the town for the evening. I made sure to pull Trena aside as we grouped up in the lobby, warning her to keep an eye on Voya and Illyan before telling her that Shyeel and I would be heading off alone for a while.

She'd seemed to have a better idea than I did about what both matters were about, because she'd refrained from cursing, instead just tiredly nodding and sighing before shooing me away. Which was how Shyeel and I found ourselves wandering the quiet streets as dusk descended, using our helmets and a private communication channel to keep our conversation to ourselves.

"All right." I tapped my cane as I walked, having decided to bring it with after Illyan remarked that it made me seem more approachable. "What the fuck is wrong with them this time?"

Shyeel sighed as we left the hotel's general area, slowly moving past the restaurants and bars that occupied this area of the city. "I broke down and gave Voya some advice, she tried to follow it, and... well, she was Voya and Illyan was Illyan."

I could only groan. "Right... let's start with the advice, I'm guessing it was relationship oriented."

The matron was silent for several steps, and when she spoke her tone was the cautious one where the speaker agreed with the point, but wanted to know how far you'd followed the logic. "How do you figure?"

"The makeup, the hair. She's actually trying to make herself look good for someone for the first time since I met her." I pressed my lips together for a few long heartbeats. "...it's me, isn't it?"

"Trena owes me five hundred." Shyeel rolled a shoulder, "She didn't think you'd pick it up since Voya's not a Batarian."

I grimaced, my emotional seas rolling around a little bit. I'd been doing my very best to _not_ notice Voya, forcing myself to focus on the parts of her body that I found a little off-putting instead of the ones that I found appreciative. And as bad as I was at reading women who weren't Batarian... I'd known Voya, lived with her, bandaged her wounds, held her after nightmares, been held after my own, and gone through countless battles at her side. In short, I knew her pretty fucking well, and it hadn't been all that hard to notice the longer than usual glances, the effort to make herself look good, and a dozen other little things that showed her interest... and her uncertainty.

It had still taken me a little while, my first guess had been that she was trying to win Shyeel back, but eventually I'd realized who she was actually looking at... my problem was that I had no idea what to do about it.

"Not screaming that she doesn't like you that way?"

My head shifted a little as I turned away. "If she _didn't_ actually like me that way, you wouldn't have left her."

One of her armored boots hit the ground more sharply than strictly necessary. "Yeah... something like that."

That drew another grimace from me. That obviously wasn't everything, but it was just as painfully obvious that she wasn't going to tell me anymore than that.

"What was your advice then?" I asked quietly, shifting back towards why Voya and Illyan were fighting. "Why have her talk to Illyan?"

Shyeel let out a ragged breath. "Because that big idiot is just starting to get over what happened between you two, and how fucking unfair it is that there isn't shit she can do about it. She can love you all she wants but that doesn't matter against what's in your skull. Probably why she picked Joa to go after... that pirate is about as far from as is possible to be while still being, you know, one of us. It's volatile and heavy on the sex, but it's helping her put your pale ass into her wake."

There wasn't much I could say to that, so I stayed silent as we turned down another street, locals shifting a little as we walked past. They didn't leap out of our way in respect like they would on Omega, or scatter in mixed awe and fear like on Horizon, instead they simply shifted a little, eying us as if we were dangerous varren they weren't quite sure about approaching.

"But... shit. I told Voya that if she was going to try anything, she should talk with Illyan first." My fellow Reyja'krem exhaled heavily as we kept moving, "Clear the waters, make sure there wouldn't be problems."

I winced. "And Voya was Voya."

"She tried." Shyeel admitted, "At least at first... but Illyan made a comment about how everyone had already known it, asked why she'd gone with me at all instead of just starting a threesome with the two of you... and then it all fucking blew up."

Yeah, that would have done it. Dammit Illyan... that had to have been Joa's influence on top of what had happened between us. Then again, it could have just has easily been Illyan being her usual slightly flirty self and Voya taking it in the worst possible way. "You think making them spar will help?"

One of her shoulders rolled. "Fuck if I know Cie. Might help them work some of it out, might make it worse. Worth a try I guess, otherwise we'll have to shove them into a room with Ghai."

I snorted softly. "She's a mind healer, not a counselor. She'd just slam their heads together and tell them to grow up."

"That's an option too." A soft pause followed her words, then she seemed to glance at me. "Cie. You and Voya... if that's not going to happen, you better be real careful about how you say it or she's going to fall apart again."

"I..." Words briefly failed me, and I let out a tight exhale. I had no idea at all on how to handle that, or on what my decision would be... which was why I'd been trying to avoid her and the subject entirely ever since I'd realized where things were going.

On one hand, she was Voya. She had long supplanted Trena as my closest companion, confidant, friend, whatever you wanted to call it. Even Illyan, who'd been in my head, probably didn't know as me as well as she did. Emotionally she remained... damaged, but that had never exactly been a turn off for me, and she was far healthier now that she once had been. For that matter, I was better than I once had been as well... except for the whole dying thing.

But then, strictly emotional attraction had never really been our problem if I was being honest with myself. If not for the fact that she was a Quarian, something would have probably happened between us a long time ago. Her too large eyes, the forked tongue, lack of ears, the odd fingers and toes, and the body hair had always added up in such a way that kept her firmly unattractive... an attitude that she'd entirely reciprocated over the last five years.

"What changed?" I asked quietly. "She's always thought I was ugly."

"She still does, but she's finally looking past that to the rest of you." A hand waved up towards my head, "You know she's always admired the fact that you kept going despite all the crap that's happened."

Well that... didn't really help me make up my mind. Not that I'd expected that she suddenly found me attractive, but it... dammit, I was lying to myself again. I'd _wanted_ her to find me attractive, just as I was starting to find her.

"What about you?" She asked. "You finally going to admit that you stare at her abs, and that she has a great ass?"

My fingers twitched, but I didn't say anything.

Shyeel stopped moving, crossing her arms when I belatedly slowed to a halt and turned back to look at her. "I want to hear you admit it Cie."

I turned away, a sharp breath escaping my nose. "...the black lipstick works too. So do the braids, helps hide the fact that she doesn't have ears like a Human or Batarian." One of her feet started tapping, and I made a strangled, irritated sound. "Fine, yes, she has a great ass and her stomach is ripped. Happy?"

"Not really, I didn't want to get involved... but she's close to panicking and backing out after her little spat with Illyan, even before she worked up the nerve to kiss you even." Shyeel shook her head, pushing off with her back foot and getting moving again. "Same shit you and Illyan supposedly broke up over, she doesn't want to risk ruining what you already have."

I almost pointed out that Illyan and I _had_ broken up for that reason, along with a few other personality clash issues. It had only been four months after that when I'd found out about how much pain melding had put her through... but I didn't think that would help the conversation so I kept those thoughts to myself.

"So," She continued when I didn't speak, "Would it?"

"Ruin things?" I asked almost tiredly, "I have no idea. A lot of the comfort we got back when we really needed that kind of thing probably wouldn't have worked if there'd been sexual angles added on. If we tried and failed, I don't know if we could do that again."

Shyeel nodded slightly, "But if you tried and _succeeded,_ wouldn't it be better?"

"...maybe." I allowed. "But... shit. I don't know. It's Voya."

There was something like a growl as she threw her arms up. "Athame's fucking azure, that's all I hear from both of you. 'It's Cie.' 'It's Voya.' Like your names are actually supposed to mean something more than that. The two have you have been inseparable since I _met_ you four years ago. Is it really that hard to think you might turn into something more?"

Yes, because it was _Voya._ Because I'd known her when I'd been with Rane. Because we'd both established very early during our mercenary careers that we didn't find the other attractive. Because Voya had...

"She trusted me... to never look at her like that."

Silence... then a quiet curse.

I wanted to rub at my face, but my helmet was in my way, so I settled for wrapping both hands around the hilt of my cane and hitting the ground sharply as my pace slowed. "Goddess, but you know how awkward it is to realize that I wouldn't mind being with her, but knowing that I've spent the last four years being the safe one? The one she knew would _never_ be tempted to touch her?"

"No... no I don't. But I can fucking imagine." She muttered. "That's why you've been all conflicted about trying to ask her out?"

The notion of asking Voya on a date was so foreign that I didn't know if I physically _could_. "That's definitely one reason."

Shyeel let out a heavy exhalation. "Is Illyan another?"

"Not so much." I shook my head. "It's been eleven months, and with all of the people she's been with... guess that made it easier for me to get over her."

"Yeah, but she's not over you."

I grimaced. "No... no she isn't. Athame's ass that will make anything that happens complicated... maybe with her and Joa that will help, but I have no idea if they're actually serious or just having sex."

My friend made a sound of agreement, "I have no idea to be honest... and let me guess, that you're dying is another issue?"

"Yeah." I murmured. "Shit. Odds are that I have five years left, assuming a fucking space-shrimp doesn't get the chance to muck around in my head a bit more."

"No." She corrected me almost instantly, "You've got three or four years until Ghai throws you into a stasis pod until she figures shit out, and Voya will be climbing into the one right next to you."

"Shyeel, I couldn't ask her-"

"Athame's ass but you're an idiot." Her head shook irritably, "You wouldn't have to ask Cie, that's the goddess-damned point. She wouldn't give you a fucking choice about it, and she'd probably beat you senseless for even trying to imply that she shouldn't go with you."

I... didn't really know what to say to that either, my head bowing as we took another turn, working our way back towards the hotel. We stayed silent for the rest of the block, the sound of my cane hitting the ground the only sound beside our footfalls and the general murmur from the locals as they went about their nightly business.

"Right." Shyeel spoke as we approached the turn back, "You should probably head up to the room, relax and work crap out."

As good as that sounded... "No, I'm fine. Better to spend some time with Terro's team, be personable and crap. I'll... talk with Voya tomorrow."

"Yeah, not going to work."

I blinked, trying to figure out where she was going with that. "What?"

An armored hand waved forwards as we made the last turn, seeing the hotel directly ahead. "Because you were too bloody distracted to realize we weren't the only ones on this channel?"

I glanced in the direction she'd indicated, and saw a very relevant Quarian standing _extremely_ awkwardly about ten meters ahead of us, right in front of the hotel that she'd evidently never left. My feet stopped moving as my body seized up, the thing inside my skull slamming right into the rocky shoals as my ability to process what was happening all but ceased. I only vaguely heard Shyeel inform us both that we owed her massively before the Asari vanished, and Voya was abruptly standing in front of me. Or maybe I was in front of her.

I inhaled slowly, shaking my head and trying to recover, feeling heat burning in my face at the sheer awkwardness of the situation. "I... goddess. You listened to all of that?'

She nodded once, her glowing eyes looking anywhere but at me. "Yes. Room?"

I could only swallow and nod in turn, neither one of us saying anything as we walked inside... or on the elevator trip to the penthouse on the top floor... or even after we'd both removed our helmets and settled ourselves onto a couch that faced the evening sky.

I think that I tried to speak a couple of times, but had no idea what to say each time. From the way her mouth occasionally opened, then closed without saying anything, she wasn't doing much better.

After the fourth time, I couldn't help but snort quietly. "Look at us. Acting like maidens on their first date."

Voya blinked at me, then the skin around her eyes darkened a little as she shook her head. "We are, aren't we? A Warlord and a Trophy Taker acting like a pair of stupid _keshin_ and refusing to so much as talk as we sit on a couch in full armor..."

I smiled a little, "So... us."

"Us." She repeated the word, shaking her head a little. " _Keelah_ , if you want to beat up Shyeel a bit, I won't complain. She told me to join the channel but I thought it was just going to be on what that big idiot said, not... um..." A hand waved at her stomach and hips, wordlessly referencing the compliments that Shyeel had made me say aloud.

My skin heated up again, and I rubbed furiously at my face. "Yeah... well, I mean... I meant it."

"I... know." A dark, forked tongue appeared as she licked her black lips, then she seemed to regain some of her usual confidence. "Your hair. You're going to color it black again, and put those blue highlights in it like you had on Omega."

I blinked. "I am?"

She increasingly looked like a raccoon as the skin around her wide eyes kept darkening into a full blush, but her voice stayed steady. "Yes. It makes you look better. Your beard as well... but no blue there, not until I decide where it should be."

"I'll keep that in mind." I tried, only to see her cross her arms and not-quite glare down her pert little nose at me. "I... am not going to be allowed to make many decisions, am I?"

"Not about your appearance." She shook her head, the braids hanging over her shoulders shifting a little. "And... well, no, not really. I like running things, and you like women who do."

I couldn't exactly deny either of those statements. "You're talking like there isn't even a question about whether or not we're going to be together now."

Voya stared at me for several heartbeats, then glanced away. "It... _keelah_. Is there one?"

There were about a million questions about how any of this would even work, about how we would turn our tight friendship into something more without fucking it all up. How our friends would react even beyond Illyan. Goddess, what the fuck would we do about our brothers who were _also_ in a relationship? And as well as I knew her, there was still a lot of things I _didn't_ , subjects that she'd avoided at any cost... my situation with Amy and the child I'd had with her, for one.

Then there was her trophy taking... something I knew very little about in terms of what it meant to her people's culture, since her culture was something she never, ever talked about. Would I entirely fuck this up just because I didn't know? Could I even get past her appearance, could she get past mine, enough to do things like this?

The last was something I could at least work out right now, if she let me.

Sucking in a breath, I shook my head and shoved myself up to my feet. Voya turned quickly, staring at me as I walked over to her side of the couch and stood over her.

She... was still odd to look at. Her eyes were twice the size of mine, with slit pupils and a soft glow in the dim light. Sharp cheekbones were accented by her makeup, and her black lipstick made her mouth stand out from her grey skin. Up close it was easy to see how stiff her hair was compared to a Human's, the snow-white strands rustling a little as she reflexively twitched her head left to right.

Odd... but not ugly. There was a symmetry to her features, a slight exotic flair. I needed one more breath to work my way up to it, then carefully reached up and rested my hands on either side of her covered neck before leaning down. For a moment, I thought she was going to pull away... then her tense body abruptly relaxed and shifted, moving up to meet me instead.

Kissing her was... so different, so very different from Batarians, or Asari, or Humans. She tasted like smoke and fire, an impression reinforced by the heat of her lips. Her burning tongue slid into my mouth, nimbly flicking its forked ends across my teeth before pressing against my own. Strange fingers rising to tangle themselves in my hair as she clutched at it, a sound I couldn't hear over the hammering of my heart making her throat vibrate.

I pulled back when I ran out of air, inhaling sharply and half-closing my eyes as I waited for an allergic reaction or something equally stupid that would stop this before it started.

"Well..." I spoke when nothing happened beyond Voya staring at me in something like shock, her hands dropping limply into her lap. "No, guess there isn't a question on at least trying."

She swallowed, quickly glancing away. "I... no. You still aren't attractive, but... I... I can work with it."

Something in her girlish voice made me want to step closer again, wanted to kiss her and start pulling at her armor and...

I followed her example, looking away even as I forced my legs to carry me back to the other side of the couch. Goddess, but that hadn't been the best idea. It might have definitely confirmed that I felt something, that there wasn't a question... but it had also broken down the old mental barrier and now I _wanted_ her. I had no idea how it would even work with a Quarian woman, I'd been very careful to avoid looking at or remembering her various parts on those unavoidable occasions when I'd seen her changing or when I'd been patching her various wounds... but now I wanted to know, and touch her, and hear her, and... dammit.

Voya wasn't Illyan, or Rane, or Nynsi. I couldn't just launch into things as I always had before. She needed, deserved, more than just adding sex to our existing friendship.

"Cie?" Her voice was quiet as I sat and tried to throttle my arousal. "Oh _keelah._ You're turned on, aren't you?"

"Yes." I exhaled the word, making sure not to look at her. "Sorry."

"It's..." Voya flailed silently for a few moments, "Cieran, all we did was kiss."

"And it was a good one." That time I glanced up at her, finding her staring at me, "Wasn't it?"

She swallowed and quickly glanced away, "...maybe. Stop smiling you stupid _bosh'tet_ , it wasn't _that_ amazing."

I snorted, shaking my head a little. "I... we're going to take this slow, right?"

"Yes." The answer came at once, and with more than a little relief. "Yes. We're going on a date. Soon. Tomorrow, after that inspection."

I blinked. "We are? Where?"

"Hunting." She nodded sharply. "I'm going to teach you how to actually move, you know, stealthily."

"I can-"

"Cie." Her eyes narrowed, "Your definition of 'stealth' means using only one or two grenades instead of twenty."

My mouth closed as I exhaled sharply, glowering back at her. "I'm not that bad."

A tiny snort came out of her nose, her armored limbs crossing in front of her chest. "Yes, yes you are. You're a mediocre shot at the best of times, and do you even know how to use a scope?"

"Yes." I growled.

"Really?" She went right back to looking down her nose at me, "This I have to see. There's supposed to be some kind of nocturnal lizard that lives in those forests, I'll give you my Viper and see if you can hit anything with it."

"I'll use my own rifle." I countered, crossing my own arms. "I can link a scope in the morning."

Glowing eyes rolled, "Cieran, the point of hunting is to either eat it or take a trophy. That stupid rifle of yours wouldn't leave much behind."

"I... fine." I exhaled. "But you have to talk with me while we're out there, if this is a date."

She tensed up for a sharp moment, her tongue appearing to lick her lips once again. "About?"

I rolled a shoulder. "I... don't know actually. Nothing that you _don't_ want to talk about, obviously I won't force you or anything, but goddess Voya. You know everything there is to know about me, but you've spent the last five years avoiding telling me much of anything if you could help it."

Her wide eyes half closed as she inhaled, then let it out slowly. "I'll... try. Maybe. Fine, a bet. I'll answer a question each time you actually hit something with my rifle unless it's... too soon."

That wasn't exactly perfect, but it was better than I thought it would be. I nodded once, carefully pushing off from the couch and rising back to my feet. "What do you want if I miss?"

Voya tilted her head a little, frowning up at me in thought even as she also stood up. "I don't suppose you'd let me set the idiot's crest on fire? Didn't think so... my gear, it could be tuned up. One piece of equipment per miss. One answer per hit."

"Deal." I nodded again. "But for now I think we should, you know, put in an apperance at the bar before Trena decides to tell everyone we're... yeah."

"Can I set her crest on fire?"

"Maybe." I hedged. "Depends on how much she runs her mouth. Let's-"

"Um." She started to blush around her eyes again,"Cie, you should... before we go." I blinked, then blinked again when her hand waved at her mouth. "Idiot male. Your lips are black."

Ah. "And you don't want to publicly claim me yet?"

Her flush darkened to something almost black. " _Bosh'tet_ , just go clean it off."

"Giving orders already?" I drawled as I turned to go do so, "You know everyone's going to figure it out anyway as soon as I dye my hair for you."

Voya let out an annoyed growl , "Clean it off. This is already awkward enough as it is without throwing in all of those idiots' opinions already."

I could only snort, entirely agreeing with that thought.

* * *

 **Silver Blade Communications Log**

 _Trena T'Laria: I'm telling you that they definitely got up to some shit before they came to the bar yesterday. And they're going out tonight._

 _Idas Kithan: I'm not releasing the bet money without confirmation. Give me a vid of them making out or one of them with a possession mark on their neck and I'll believe you._

 _Trena: Oh come on. They're going hunting! That's practically a romantic dinner to that crazy bitch._

 _Idas: The bet was one when they would have sex, not on when they started dating._

 _Ghai: Point._

 _Trena: You don't get an opinion, you already lost._

 _Shyeel: Would you calm the fuck down?_

 _Trena: And you definitely don't fucking get to talk! All that crap about not interfering and then you go and do that!_

 _Idas: She did a better job than you, trying to trap them in rooms and trick them into sparring only with each other._

 _Trena: … fine, maybe she did, but point remains._

 _Shyeel: My bet was two years ago, so I lost a long fucking time ago. Not like I had a motive besides making sure they didn't hurt each other by dancing around the fucking thing for another year._

 _Ghai: Point._

 _Trena: ...Athame's ass, fucking fine. Idas, I'll get you the proof as soon as they slip up and give me something._

 _Idas: Confirmed. Terro's team heading for the war?_

 _Shyeel: In two days, final equipment checks and maybe a test run against me and the others if Voya and Illyan can calm down enough to work together._

 _Idas: How's that going?_

 _Ghai: Sparring now... violently._

 _Idas: … spirits._

* * *

 **Next up is Chapter 4:** **Prometheus Rising**

 _We finally get our first encounter with Lancer team number three, and Cieran and Voya finally start something. Next chapter's topic should be pretty obvious, and will more or less kick-off the plot for the rest of the act now that the setup is complete._

 _Quick reference point, going to put this on my profile as well:_

 _ **Lancer Team Omega:** Cmdr. Trena T'Laria (Asari), Raik Chek (Krogan male), Vessian (Turian male), Mirala (Asari), Washana (Asari), Jacqueline Nought (Human female)_

 _ **Lancer Team Xentha** : Cmdr. Terro'chak vas Xentha (Quarian male), Deshi'roa vas Xentha (Quarian male), Ken ul Besaid (Batarian male), Jin ul Besaid (Batarian male), Ganar Nikros (Krogan female), Herra Ivius (Turian female)_

 _The old Einherjar team would technically be Lancer Team Illium on the Blade's table of organization, from back when they only planned to have units on Illium and Xentha, with Ayle and Nynsi pushing Cieran into assembling and running the commando operations instead of a full-on military branch (As Aria more or less forced him into leading)._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Tallygirl02 → This story is currently planned to have only one epilogue chapter, which will be a flash-back to reveal just what they were up to.

Gods-own → Yup.

BJ Hanssen → Yeah. I never really liked that _none_ of the council races really prepared after ME1. Even if they don't believe in the Reapers, the threat of the Geth alone should have seen _some_ kind of build up just to make sure they couldn't attack the Citadel again.


	24. Act 3-4: Prometheus Rising

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act III: The Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Prometheus Rising**

 _Date:_ 02-22-2186

 _Location:_ Silver Blades Command Center, Illium Minor, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

"Not that hard." I sighed, stepping forwards and carefully taking Jacqueline's right arm with my hands. She pursed her lips a little as I manipulated her limb in the appropriate motion, "Like this. Speed, not power."

"I hear you, just... hard to remember is all." The biotic grimaced as I stepped back, carefully pulling her limb back before jabbing it out in a quick motion. When I nodded in approval, she inhaled sharply and began carefully repeating it, getting used to the maneuver. "These things are lighter than I thought they'd be."

I rolled a shoulder in a shrug, glancing at the weapons now wrapped around her forearms and hands. Each war gauntlet was a series of dark metal plates connected by a thick armor weave, emitters projecting blue omni-panels a few centimeters above themselves. Four long strips protected her arms, the panels curving to match her limb's shape, with another large panel protecting the back of her hand. The main sections, whoever, were the three thick panels that blazed above her knuckles and fingers, ready to detonate on contact with a target.

"That's because the goal isn't to use them without the tech plating." I reminded her, shifting a bit to one side to get a better look at her movements. "First rule is simple but hard to remember when you're throwing punches; the real damage isn't the impact, it's the plate's detonation."

She grunted, nodding slightly as she slowed down a bit, focusing on the mechanics of the jab rather than speed. "That's why you've been running me on all that quick hit crap."

"One reason." I admitted, "You don't have the build for power in either case, so even if I didn't use gauntlets myself I probably would have recommended them for you. Switch arms."

Jacqueline did so, reversing her lead foot and taking a quick breath before moving her left arm through the motion. "What about using 'em to block shit? Like when you fought that Justicar."

I grimaced at the memory. "That's... harder, something you're going to have learn in sparring. You _can_ block something cold, but nine times out of ten you want to move your arms with the impact to lessen it. Those emitters can reform the plates pretty damn fast, they have to to make the system work, but the damage and power draw adds up."

Her lips pursed a little as she nodded, "So we're gonna be sparring then?"

"Not today." I shook my head, "Today you get to hit targets, get used to the weight, and I get to watch and make sure I didn't fuck up anything making those."

That earned me a snort and an exasperated look. "Fucking seriously?"

I rolled my eyes, "Calm down, they aren't going to blow up or anything. Want to make sure they fit and draw power appropriately."

"Yeah, sure." She clearly didn't believe, me, but dutifully shook her arms out and glanced at the various training dummies lined up against a wall. "So what, fighting tomorrow?"

"Probably." I nodded as I followed her, making sure to stay a little back as she picked her first target. "Not so much against me, I'm mostly going to be running you through using a gun in addition to those."

Jacqueline made a face. "Voya and Trena?"

I nodded. "Voya's going to run you through omni-blade and knife counters, Trena's going to handle blade work and a few biotic moves she thinks might help."

There was a soft grunt as she threw an experimental punch with her right arm, hitting the dummy center mass. All three panels on her right fist obligingly shattered, directing energy right into the target and slamming it backwards. She let out a surprised sound as the recoil pushed her own arm back, staring at the blast mark on the gel dummy as the material slowly reformed itself.

"Too hard." I chided as she shook herself, "And too direct. Angle your fist like I had you doing before, just trigger the top panel."

"Right." She got back into her stance as the tech plates reformed with flickers of light, trying again. This one was better, her arm moving quickly and only triggering the top two sections, and she followed it up with a quick left jab that also detonated two.

"Better, little adjustments. I want you used to doing shit the right way before we actually go all out." My arms crossed as I watched, "Step in though, get closer. You don't have my reach, and most non-Asari you run into are going to be taller than you. You'll want to be inside their arms."

"I remember." Jacqueline nodded as she moved in, her lips pulling into a grin as she threw another quick combination that bounced the target off the wall behind it. "Fuck but this is some nice shit..."

I smiled a little as she quickly fell into a routine, running through the various Batarian boxing maneuvers I'd spent the last year teaching her. The gauntlets were humming efficiently, though the left wasn't recharging quite as quickly as the right... excess power was probably being directed to one of the panels, I'd have to correct that when I had the chance.

"Aim up a bit, always go for the throat or eyes." I instructed on her third repetition, a sheen of sweat just starting to cover her tattoos. "Remember, you aren't fighting them, you're killing them."

Jacqueline nodded once, correcting her where she hit the targets.

That had honestly been the hardest lesson to pound into her head. I remained entirely in the Batarian camp when it came to the purpose of close combat, that being to eliminate a target as quickly and efficiently as possible. Athame's ass, Thondurian Boxing, my main source of inspiration, didn't even _have_ submissive or disabling attacks, and largely disdained the notion of throws. You were either trying to cripple your target, or making a quick move to setup the kill shot. What little bits of grappling and disabling I'd added in to my personal 'style' were entirely folk-style wrestling from my implanted memories as a result.

In contrast, Jacqueline had been more used to being able to rely on her biotics, using them to fight out of her weight class. Unfortunately even with that assistance, she'd admitted to often being in, and enjoying, multi-minute slugging matches and bar fights. In contrast, I was teaching her how to fight in battles that would last a couple of seconds if she did everything right. Actual brawling, trading blows, giving ground, all that crap was mostly there for those rare circumstances when circumstances dictated it had to happen... and when they said you couldn't just retreat and come up with a better plan later.

It had taken her a while to get used to the shifts I'd demanded, but she'd proven to be a dedicated learner... and I'd learned more than a few things in the process of teaching, having been forced to actually _think_ about the crap I'd just relied on muscle memory and instinct for. Further, I'd expanded that to my general tactics beyond just hand to hand, with a lot of assistance from both Trena and Chek, along with an ancient Batarian exile who only answered to Asi.

A former SIU agent who'd spent his entire career fighting the STG in shadow wars, he'd helped me turn the pieces of the basics that Ayle had given me into something concrete... at least when he wasn't cursing me out for being a moronic fur covered monkey who relied too much on tech. I took the screaming and ranting in stride, compared to the crap he said to the Asari Huntresses he was training for us, what he said to me was practically complimentary.

Most of my problems were those of overspecialization, largely a result of the fact that all I'd really fought were Krogan and Vorcha for far too long. I'd started to fall into some bad habits as a result, in terms of both my tactics and my equipment. Fixing the latter had been easy, relaxing even. Fixing the former had required a lot of going back to the basics, and it had rapidly become Jacqueline's favorite parts of the week, since it usually became her turn to sit back and enjoy me suffering for once.

She was onto dummy number three, the first two being battered beyond using further, when Erana arrived, carrying three different tablets under one arm while her other had her omni-tool open and scrolling with data that I didn't want to deal with.

"Even my training sessions have to do double duty now?" I asked as she approached.

The young maiden gave me an apologetic smile, though her eyes weren't quite looking at me. "Sorry sir, but with Nara and Joa both gone and Miss Ghai directing training..."

I sighed as her voice trailed off. With the first two gone and the latter swamped, I couldn't delegate nearly as much crap as I'd once been able to. "All right. What's first? ...Erana. Oh goddess, stop staring at the eye candy."

Erana jerked a little, her eyes snapping away from Jacqueline's muscled and glistening back, her cheeks flushing to a deep navy. "I... I wasn't... um, first was the supply requests."

I accepted the first tablet as she fumbled it over, trying not to shake my head a little. It took all of five seconds for Erana to be not looking at me again, no thanks to Jacqueline who'd shifted to a different target that left her more in profile. After that it became a fight not to groan as the now ninety-year old, and increasingly hormonal, young maiden all but drooled at the tattooed skin on display.

"Drell... other Asari... Human women." I exhaled as I glanced down at the report, flicking through the quantities of weapons and armor due to be ordered from our various suppliers. "Any other interests you're working on?"

"I... I don't, I mean-"

"Erana." I held a hand up even as I kept reading, "I'm not your sister. If you want to date or have sex or whatever, that's your decision at this point."

Something that might have been an embarrassed squeak as the only sound she could make in response to that. Behind me, Jacqueline snorted, her voice amused. "Shit Cie, you always have to be that blunt?"

"Pretty much." I drawled, using a finger to sign my name in approval at the end of the report. "As much as Illyan likes to pretend otherwise, she's already two decades older than most maidens who run off. Ninety is old enough to make decisions... just don't pull a T'Soni and bond with someone."

Erana's mouth was still moving, but it took her a few moments to get the words out, "Cieran... sir, I mean... can we... not?"

"Not talk about this, or not talk about it in front of Jacqueline?" I asked bemusedly, holding the tablet out for her to take. "If you're choices are her or Platoon Commander Frea, I'd say to go with her."

It was Jacqueline's turn to make a choking sound, "What the shit? You trying to set me up with your fucking daughter?"

I shrugged, still waiting for Erana to stop blushing and take the tablet. I didn't bother responding to the crack about her being my daughter, knowing from too many months experience that it wouldn't go anywhere "Would you rather let Vessian keep trying to set you up with Callus Dannir?"

Her response to that was a growling oath.

Not that Dannir was a bad guy, far from it. The quartermaster assigned to support Trena's lancer team, he'd proven to be a surprisingly capable scrounger when it came to getting scales some of the weird crap she asked for, and he'd been nothing but polite and efficient the few times I'd met him. He was just... well, Turian, and while Jacqueline had admitted that Turians had voices like 'hot sex', she had the same issues I did with the species.

Callus had gotten the hint, but Vessian... was proving to be as socially awkward as most Turians, and just kept right on trying.

I finally took matters into my own hands, taking the other reports out of Erana's numb fingers as she stared at nothing. The maiden jerked a little at the touch, offered Jacqueline a horribly embarrassed look, then settled her eyes firmly on the floor.

"Cieran, goddess..." She muttered, still blushing. "Can we please stop talking about this sir?"

I snorted, shaking my head a little. "All right. What's this next report?"

"Um... finances, that one is finances."

I nodded and went through it, finding it to be as horrifically dry as ever. Erana translated numbers into actual information as I read, summarizing everything at the end. We remained in... decent if not exceptional shape. Ayle and Nynsi were still giving us cuts of their own income to make sure we stayed in the blue, but not nearly so much as they had been a few months back. Our local economy was up and climbing steadily, and once the payments started in from New Canton we'd finally be profitable on our own... if only just.

I signed off on the report, taking the next and finding it to be the details of a minor contract with the Eclipse. Leska wanted a few of our squads on a short term loan to replace one of her pirate hunting units, some kind of virus had put most of them into a hospital a week before a planned raid on some idiots trying to make a mess out in the Illium Run.

"Send this one back to Leska, tell her a full platoon is the smallest I'll detach." I shook my head, handing all three pads back to her. "We'll discount the price a bit out of thanks for what they did for us last year, have Ven draw up a three week deal for a Line detachment and send it with. Anything else?"

She shook her head, "That's it for now sir, but remember that you have a regimental conference in four hours with Miss Ghai to review progress."

I grimaced. "I remember. Thank you."

Erana nodded, flicked a blushing gaze at Jacqueline, who'd worked her way through three more dummies in short order, and then departed.

I watched her go, sighing a little as she unconsciously swung her hips a bit more than she would have if I was the only one present. "Athame's ass... what the fuck am I supposed to do with you two?"

Jacqueline offered a short growl as I turned back around, her breathing coming rapidly as she flicked her gauntlets off. She'd evidently distracted herself by going all out while Erana had been present, and was clearly calling it a day. "What's that shit supposed to mean?"

"It means you weren't discrete enough on your date yesterday." I countered, crossing my arms as she abruptly paled. "You did a crap job of faking it just now, and do you know how fucking hard it is for me to keep Illyan in the dark?"

The biotic flinched a little. "I... shit. What the fuck was I supposed to do? You had me training those maidens in biotics and she just... fucking asked to join in and you never said shit about it."

I exhaled, reaching up to rub at my face. I hadn't felt the need to put a stop to it for what had been good reasons. Erana learning how to defend herself was something I was entirely in favor of, considering that she now lived on Omega, and despite her rough edges, Jacqueline was more than qualified to teach her when it came to biotics. That's why we'd had her working with our neophyte Huntresses to begin with.

What I _hadn't_ expected was for a student-teacher thing to develop between the two of them, a situation probably not helped by Erana's increasing desire to rebel against her sister's wishes... and the fact that she was more than past the age when most maidens flung themselves out into the galaxy in a fit of wanderlust and... well, lust.

"I'm guessing she asked you out?"

Jacqueline grimaced, glancing away. "Yeah... right after a training session. I thought it was, you know, Lancer shit, until we got to the bar and..."

I sighed. Erana had probably relied on that angle to get her to agree in the first place, she was surprisingly deceptive when she focused her mind to it... "You like her?"

Pale cheeks reddened a little. "She's... innocent."

Meaning that Jacqueline didn't have to worry about the same kind of crap she'd usually be paranoid about. Erana wouldn't abuse her, or use her, or otherwise fuck her over like so many people had in her past. Anything that the maiden screwed up would more likely be due to inexperience rather than maliciousness.

"You want me to cut it off?" She asked, her arms crossing uncertainly. "Only been two dates, might not hurt her all that bad."

I grimaced. In her own way Jacqueline was good for Erana in return... she'd been abused and hurt before, and there was no fucking way she'd let herself do that kind of crap to someone she actually cared about. More than that, she wouldn't be pressuring the girl for sex, unlike too many others. "No, you're both adults, you can do what you want. But what you _do_ need to do is grow a quad and tell Illyan, or at least do a better job of hiding what you two are up to."

That drew another wince. "Think I'll go with the discretion."

"That's fine." I replied evenly, "Just... take care of her. Like you said, she's innocent. And young."

"I know..." She exhaled, shaking her head and reaching down to start pulling at her gauntlets. "You want these?"

"No, you can keep them overnight. I'll adjust them before training tomorrow." I watched as she nodded, starting to turn towards the showers. "And Jacqueline..."

"The dad speech?" Jacqueline glanced back at me, shaking her head, "I hurt your adopted girl, you break my legs?"

My lips pulled back from teeth, "You think I'm that nice? I'd just give you to Ghai and Illyan and tell them to use their imaginations."

Her already pale features went white, and she swallowed a little. She managed to jerk her chin in a nod before turning away, getting her sweat covered ass into the locker room to clean up. I watched her go, making sure that she felt my eyes on her the entire trip. Only when the door shut behind her did I grunt, turning and getting moving as well.

Goddess but keeping Illyan in the dark was going to be a pain in my ass, especially with Joa off station.

Leaving the training room, I made it about ten steps towards the lifts before a shadow joined me, my strides shortening a bit to let Voya keep pace. She glanced up at me as we walked, her glowing eyes rolling a little at my expression.

"Jacqueline will take care of her." She sighed, "You're so bloody protective."

I grimaced, "I'm not worried about that so much as I am what Illyan's reaction is going to be. She all but exploded when she thought Erana was sleeping with Frea."

Voya grimaced at the reminder, "Get her off station then, let her go be Joa's toy for a few months."

"The thought occurred to me." I admitted as we turned down a corridor, slowing up further as we reached the elevators. "But more official than that. Send her and Shyeel both to Horizon to keep an eye on things."

My Quarian... girlfriend pursed her dark lips a little, working through what I was implying. "You mean on Severa's people."

"I mean on everything." Stepping inside the lift when it arrived, I punched the controls to take us up to the Lancer's den. "Severa's people, the locals, and to help Joa and Nara police their ranks... and maybe they could listen for rumors while they're there."

Another grimace pinched her face. "That Cerberus facility from the implants, you want to see if it's being built already?"

"I think we need to find out what those assholes are up to." I admitted, "A few project names is all we have, and the only one I knew about was Overlord."

"That shit..." She muttered, "Who's handling that?"

"Kicked it to the Butcher as a peace offering." A hand rose to rub at a temple as I remembered _that_ conversation. "He wasn't interested in reconciliation, but last I heard he did take a Corsair team and shut the place down."

Voya let out a girlish little grunt our ride beeped quietly, the doors opening to reveal our lounge. Chek glanced up politely from where he and Mirala were sipping tea at a table, both nodding as the pair of us nodded back. The pair quickly returned to their own conversation, while my companion followed me into my office and shut the door behind us.

"That just leaves Lazarus, Prometheus, Jonah, and Ajax." She mused, "Plus however many we don't know about."

"Yeah." I sighed, dropping into my chair the moment I reached it. Voya declined to sit, instead moving to lean a substantial hip against my desk, crossing her arms as I kept speaking, "Athame's ass but I was really hoping we could avoid fighting those racists for a while."

There was a soft little snort, "You? Hoping?"

"Didn't say I expected it." I muttered, leaning my head back. "Dammit. I _was_ expecting that Aethyta could handle them, but with all the shit T'Ravt is up to... shit. I guess I should just be grateful we have a Spectre to do some of the work for us."

The emergency intercom cracked to life on my desk before Voya could utter a word in response, red LED's flashing in alarm as a breathy young Batarian woman stammered across the line.

" _Honored Reyja'krem, we have a live FTL transmission from a Council Spectre."_ She swallowed audibly, taking the moment to steady her voice. " _She demands that we connect you to her, that it is an emergency situation."_

The fingers of my left hand twitched a little. Fucking Athame, bitch hadn't screwed me over in goddess damned months... and that bloody comment had barely even been asking for anything.

"Put her through." I exhaled as Voya rolled her eyes, stepping around behind me even as the holographic display on the desk flickered to life, showing Severa's face. It was grainy and more than a little distorted, she had to be transmitting from her omni-tool and bouncing the signal to the buoy somehow. "Spectre."

" _Kean."_ She replied, her mandibles twitching in agitation. " _Good news, you weren't lying about Cerberus being up to crap. Bad news, I need some backup. I only have my team with, and you're closer than the cabal the Hierarchy loaned me."_

The first part I believed, the second I didn't. "What did you find and where?"

" _An STG team who owed me a favor picked up on some odd activity on Carastes."_ Severa supplied tersely, " _One of my people investigated and found rumors of humans and mechs abducting people from the attempt to restart the colony. They've been moving them to a facility on planet."_

I felt my muscles tighten. Shit, I had a bad feeling about where this was going. "You found it?"

" _Yes... it's new, but extensive, and they've got teams building more expansions."_ The Turian all but growled, " _Maybe half the prisoners are inside, the rest are being kept in spirits damned cages outside, including Hierarchy soldiers."_

"How...never-mind." I exhaled, answers would come when we found out what was happening there... but the idea of Cerberus capturing aliens brought up unpleasant memories and ideas, and I was already dreading what we might find inside. "What do you need?"

" _Reinforcements, and enough firepower to bring down the three Corsair frigates in orbit."_ If her voice had been angry before, it became little more than raw fury as she continued. " _They opened fire on my ship when I attempted to retreat after my initial reconnaissance, and are coordinating with the facility. That confirms this facility is either Cerberus, or that the Alliance has decided to declare war on the rest of the Council."_

My eyes half closed as I exhaled, considering the situation as rapidly as I could. One, I was pretty sure Severa really was that fucking pissed off, meaning she was likely telling the truth. Two, it meant Cerberus knew she was there... but they couldn't know she was a Spectre, otherwise they'd already be pulling out. So we had some time, just not much of it. Three... I needed to do some math about how long it would take to move ships around.

"I can get you a cruiser and a frigate inside of an Omega day," I exhaled after nearly a minute of mental consultation, "But I would rather have more ships along to make sure we have numbers. Can you hide out for three?"

" _Easily."_ She replied, " _I'm a Spectre, remember? I'll have a pulse beacon set with my location, local noon, three Omega days from now."_

"Confirmed." I nodded, "You have any hard data for us right now?"

" _Ready to upload a data packet."_

"One moment." I flicked my eyes to Voya, and she nodded as she brought up her omni-tool. It took her a few tense minutes to setup an isolated virtual drive, my desk's display flickering as she cut its systems off from the base's main network.

The Spectre waited patiently until I told her we were ready, an information upload promptly beginning. I waited until it completed before grunting, "All right. Assume full intelligence sharing once we clean the base, and we'll secure any prisoners but let you handle their disposition once the fighting is complete. My word on cooperation for the duration. Payment is easy, you're hiring us as elements of a Spectre operation."

Her mandibles twitched. " _Neatly preventing the Alliance from screaming when you destroy their ships?"_

I snorted. "Something like that. Can you get in touch with the Council to confirm that? I'll pay the Shadow Broker to confirm that we aren't going to be called war criminals or pirates."

Unspoken went the threat that I wouldn't send my ships and people in to help her if I didn't get that confirmation, but I didn't think that I had to say that aloud to a Spectre.

 _"I can and will."_ She dipped her head, " _Well bargained and done, Severa out."_

I cursed the moment the screen went dark... so much for a decent day that was supposed to have ended with working on weapons with Voya. Now we had a time limit, a very tight one, and there was about a million things to do before we set sail... Shit.

"Dammit. Going to need Ghai, Jun, and Nel up here. We have to pull this together fast." I exhaled, pushing my way to my feet. "Voya? Track down Illyan and Shyeel, have them help you get our own gear set for-"

A hand clamped down on my shoulder and shoved hard. I hadn't been even close to expecting that reaction, and my ass promptly slammed back into my chair as my knees buckled. I let out a breathy curse as Voya stared down her nose at me.

"No." She cut me off simply.

I blinked rapidly, trying to drag my head out of the plans it had already become lost in. "Voya?"

"You," Her soft voice lowered to something dark and unyielding, "Are not going with."

"I..." More blinking. "What?"

Black lips pressed together into a thin line as her eyes narrowed, "Whenever some crisis arises, you always rush off to handle it. Its predictable, and its going to get you killed. We're staying here."

"Voya..." I shook my head a little, "This isn't a minor thing, this is Cerberus. The only troops we have are B'Mara's, the Fifth and Sixth don't even have Senior Captains assigned yet. I need-"

"To let B'Mara and the little bitch _do their jobs._ " She snapped back. "I wanted to yell at you for this when I heard about how you went to get Mirala and Jacqueline, but you had the excuse that there really _wasn't_ anyone else to send so I kept my mouth shut when I shouldn't have."

"Voya-"

She cut off my second attempt by pulling her lips back to show me ivory teeth, both sets of her canines on display. "You told everyone you were actually going to act like a Warlord, didn't you?"

I grimaced, not liking where she was going with this. "Yes..."

"How many Warlords run around acting like commandos?" Next to none, because those that did didn't stay Warlords for very long. Either they ended up dead thanks to the enemy killing them... or they ended up dead when a trusted subordinate ended up being not quite so trustworthy.

Voya nodded at my expression, "You're staying here this time."

"This time?" I asked quietly, forcing myself to settle back into my chair as she finally let go of my shoulder.

Her eyes rolled, "I'm not saying _never_ go out you _bosh'tet_ , I'm saying don't _always_ go out. Once and a while is fine, so long as we're with, it can help you keep everyone's personal loyalty by reminding them you don't mind leading from the front. Just not this time, and probably not against Cerberus. After the crap that happened at Benihi... they'll want you, specifically."

My lips pursed as her voice trailed off. The lack of overt assassination attempts was starting to worry me as well, in addition to the lack of more subtle retaliations for the damage I'd done to their fleet. Well, MacKinnon had done the damage, but I'd been the one to organize and plan her involvement.

In all likelihood they had at least one agent watching me, or keeping very close track of Omega's communications to keep track of when I was on or off the station. More than that was probably not possible, and I wasn't all that worried about an infiltrator. Humans made up a tiny percentage of our recruits, bigots tended to be outed almost at once and were dealt with appropriately.

It was entirely possible that if I went with, and large portions of our fleet were moving, that Cerberus would notice and react. They likely wouldn't _know_ that we were after them, but Harper hadn't gotten to where he was without a massive paranoia streak. He'd have facilities take precautions, especially ones that had just reported shooting down a snooping Turian ship. That was especially true with EDI around to keep track of disparate data sources and connect the various wakes for him.

On the other hand, if I made a few public declarations after the ships had moved out, and confirmed that I was still here, they might not think we were going after them at all... especially since Voya was right, I did have a reputation from leading from the front.

"All right." I exhaled softly. "I'll stay here. This time."

"Good." She nodded, "I was going to cut whatever those tendons in your weird ankles are, but this is less messy."

I flicked my eyes to her glowing orbs, then sighed. "I so wish you were joking about that."

Her teeth reappeared. "No you don't, you like my violent side."

"Voya, you _only_ have a violent side..." I shook my head when she merely crossed her arms, as if daring me to deny her prior statement. Since I couldn't, I simply took another calming breath, then shifted back to what had to get done, "Get Trena, Ghai, Jun, and Nel up here, please, I have to transmit the request to the old fish."

She nodded, stepping away and bringing her omni-tool back up to start sending out the alerts. While she did that, I sent a quick emergency request of my own, this one to Aethyta. I had no idea where the old fish was operating out of these days, though I assumed it was somewhere in the spinward Terminus. Likely not Illium itself, too obvious, but that still left a large number of Asari dominant colonies she could hide herself in.

The Matriarch responded fairly promptly, probably only because I'd keyed the alert code for something massive happening, and I quickly filled her in on what I'd been told. She'd grunted, told me to hold on a minute, and then cut the line to start making her own calls to confirm it.

She got back to me as all four of the required Asari arrived, all of them suitably confused and alarmed by the summons. All of them were smart enough to keep their questions to themselves when they heard the guttural sound of the Shadow Broker's voice emitting from my desk.

" _My agent on Sparatus's staff just confirmed that he just took an emergency transmission from a Spectre agent, but no details yet."_ Aethyta's modulated voice informed me, " _Severa has a reputation for reasonable action, so I would not anticipate betrayal."_

I grunted, "I hear you, but I still want confirmation. I'll have the fleet shift to just outside of Carastes' halo. That will give you three days to confirm we aren't going to get fucked over again."

" _Payment?"_

My eyes rolled a little, "You'll be copied on all data we take from the facility... and how the fuck did you not know about this?"

Even with the filter, Aethyta sounded nettled. " _Cerberus employs at least two artificial intelligence programs that were able to out many of my agents. Those that remain have specific orders to only transmit emergency data packets."_

Meaning they were all dark, and would stay dark until Shepard was almost revived. So whatever this was, it didn't include Lazarus. Not that I'd expected it to, but still good to know we wouldn't run the risk of fucking that up. "All right. I'll also forward the data Severa just sent me, if you can get a picket ship in place to watch for anyone else who's going to show up to this party."

" _Agreed. You will receive a target point in the system's outer cloud, data will be transmitted to that location. Broker out."_

Trena grimaced as the line cut. She'd taken a moment to grab her Lancer coat, making her stand out a bit against the other's standard navy and silver uniforms, "Cerberus then? Shit, what the fuck are they up to?"

"Not sure." I exhaled, already working at the console in my desk to bring up the data packet we'd been sent. "But that's what we're going to find out. This is all coming from Spectre Severa, but according to her they have a facility on Carastes, and have been abducting people locally and from elsewhere for an unknown reason. They also have three frigates in orbit, flagged as Corsair ships, that shot her down."

Captain Jun T'Voth winced, stepping forwards as an image of the system began floating in front of me. The blue skinned matron was a bitty little thing, about Trena's height, though lacking my old friend's stocky build. Like Trena, she'd been in the Eclipse during its early years, as one of their first ship captains, though she'd elected to retire in comfort on Illium after a few decades of putting up with Sederis' instability. Thankfully for us, she'd gotten unbearably bored after about her fifth decade just lounging around, and had all but leaped at the chance to join up when Trena had put us in touch.

"There's going to be more than just that, if this facility is important." She shook her head as she slowed to a stop, her blue eyes narrowed. "Carastes is too close to many places, that's how it became a slaving hub to begin with."

I grimaced. "I wanted to send the _Headman_ and the _Noln,_ plus the _Fireball_ as a bare minimum. Who else do you want?"

She bit her lip, frowning in thought. "We can't pull the full fleet?"

"We could," I hedged, "But the politics of that could get ugly. If you think you can do it with less..."

Her small body sucked in a deep breath, and she let it out in a rush. "You mean that creature masquerading as a leader would howl. Three days... that's enough to pull the Nagato and New Canton detachments, we can link at Relay Two-Two-Four. If Joa can spare the _Kick_ and the _Cut,_ I'll take them too."

I nodded, "All right. I want you to brief the other Captains and be ready to sail within two shifts. Goal will be to clear the aerospace above the target and land elements of the Fourth Regiment plus our Lancer team to support the Spectre in clearing the facility. Once that's done, help make sure whatever captives are safe and secure, then get home."

The Senior Captain of the regiment in question winced, moving to stand next to the smaller Asari. "Sir, with respect, I don't know if my people are ready for this kind of operation, especially with both of my best companies now on New Canton."

"They're ready." I told her far more confidently than I actually felt, shifting my head and shoulders to display Batarian confidence and trusting that she could read that. "The _Headsman_ can carry a full Line company, I want you to lead it yourself. Put as many Hunting units as you can on the _Noln_ and _Fireball._ Your main goal is going to be to support the Spectre and Trena, not to win the entire battle on your own."

Voya grunted, speaking up from where she'd moved to stand behind me. "We'll get you data on Cerberus, but it won't be anything you can't handle. They hate straight up fights, and this is going to be as direct as it gets."

Nel looked a little reassured, and nodded slightly. "Will you be in overall command sir?"

I felt Voya's eyes bore into the back of my head, and I straightened my back a little. "No, Commander T'Laria will be in overall command."

Ghai's eyes widened a little in surprise, even as Trena blinked and glanced between me and her bondmate. "You're staying here ape?"

"Yes." I nodded slightly, "And I'll be making a public broadcast of some kind to make it clear that I'm still here. Cerberus knows me, knows I like to be involved."

Jun nodded as well, "They won't believe a major operation is underway if you're still here. Neither would the Corsairs."

"Precisely." I flicked my eyes to Ghai, and forced myself to take a mental step back. "This is going to be your operation. Let's get it right."

My XO glowered at me for a few long breaths, then glanced behind me at Voya. She must have seen something in the Quarian because she rolled her eyes a little before nodding, stepping forwards as I shifted the data to the rough recon analysis that Severa had been able to provide.

The Cerberus base was, unsurprisingly, located in the ruins of the old slaving colony. They'd evidently managed to repair the sabotaged reactors enough to get them working again, and seemed to be operating mostly in what had once been some kind of mansion-fortress complex. Probably the home of one of the Circle's senior members before the Spectre-Corsair assault had killed most of them.

Reconstruction work was still heavily ongoing at the place, and despite the massive number of available buildings, alien prisoners were apparently just being left out in old slaving cages out front. Severa had pinpointed several probable entrances, and escape routes that those inside the facility might use, as well as the location of the nearby attempt at creating a respectable colony on planet. She was reasonably sure that Cerberus would have at least one, if not more, informants there, to better help them plan their raids.

The basic plan turned out to be rather basic.

Nel B'Mara would have three of her four Line platoons establish a tight perimeter around the building, with one or two frigates descending into atmosphere to provide suppression fire for the landing. Her fourth platoon would be dedicated to release the exterior captives, and relocation them to a safe location, after which they would act as her reserves. The main focus of the planning was on where each unit should be located based on our old maps of the city, and the most probable routes that they might be attacked from the rear.

For her part, Trena would take her Lancer team along with the Hunting platoon into the complex. We couldn't really go beyond that since we didn't have any idea what the interior was like, meaning that Trena was going to have move with the waves. Her bondmate would stay on the _Headsman_ to direct the operation, along with the ship's marine contingents. In case of an emergency, she would lead them down to the surface to help secure an evacuation zone.

Once we had all of that worked out, all four of them departed to get their people assembled and the various pieces moving, leaving me with just Voya for company.

"We're basically declaring war on Cerberus with this." I muttered as the door closed, reaching up to rub my face with a hand.

Voya rolled a shoulder as she moved around, turning and hopping a little to sit on my desk. "Benihi was enough for that, I think."

"That started a cold war, sure." I shook my head, "This is going to start real fighting."

There was another shrug, "We would have to deal with those _keshin_ sooner or later, and at least this will let the Fourth sharpen their edges."

I opened my mouth, then closed it as I realized that I was just agitating. She was right, Cerberus was something that would have to be handled, and getting those crazed assholes out of the way faster could hardly be bad so long as we didn't interfere with Lazarus... I hoped.

Voya grimaced, shifting a little closer before reaching down. Fever-hot fingers wrapped around my left hand, forcing my fingers loose from the fist I'd clenched them into. " _Keelah,_ you really don't like staying behind?"

"No." I admitted, a few memories coming back. "Reminds me of... Redcliffe. When I was injured and had to support Nara while you all went off. It... shit. If I hadn't had to help run her regiment I'd have probably had some kind of attack."

Glowing eyes regarded me, her expression enigmatic. "Was that the first real time you had to stay behind? Sending me and Rane after that _tuho_ who worked on my throat doesn't count."

"No... second." I smiled a little. "On Illium, way back when, but it wasn't as bad since Trena was stuck behind too. We... shit, we weren't even supposed to monitor the operation, but we reactivated a few training routines and watched through their helmet cameras."

That earned me a snort, "Well, look at this way. We can still have our... date, tonight."

I blinked, my smile not fading. "Since when is building weapons a date?"

She crossed her arms, black lips ticking up one side. "Since we're us?"

"Fair point."

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communication Log**_

 _Illyan: Boss, where the FUCK are you?_

 _Cieran: Workshop with Voya, what's wrong? Anything go wrong with the departure?  
_

 _Illyan: Yes something went fucking wrong! Why the fuck did my sister make out with Jacqueline fucking Nought at the airlock!?_

 _Cieran: ...Athame's ass, she didn't..._

 _Shyeel: She did Cie. There's recordings. And there was whistling. And cheering._

 _Cieran: Goddess, so much for being discrete._

 _Illyan: You fucking knew!?_

 _Cieran: ..no?_

 _Illyan: You're dead. Voya, I'm killing your boyfriend. Going to strangle him with his own fucking fur._

 _Shyeel: ...um, she just took off at a run Cie, and she had a really homicidal expression. You might want to bolt, or barricade the door._

 _Voya: As if we'd run from that idiot. If she wants a fight, we will give her one._

 _Cieran: ...this is another one of those things I don't get a say in, isn't it?_

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 5: Endless Karma**_

 _And here we go. Beyond the merely personal (which will be threaded throughout), the threat of both the Collectors and Cerberus is going to be the main focus from this point onwards. The nature of the conflict is going to be slightly different, as Voya pointed out, Cieran isn't just a mercenary commando anymore, and can't always be the one running off to personally fight._

 _The next chapter will cover how things went at Carastes, and for those of you who like Cieran's engineering side, will cover a few of the projects that he's been working on to stay relaxed while he waits for the results._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Lord Oja/cuisinart8 → This story is a bit... rougher on the progression than I think my other ones were, as part of my ongoing effort to increase the pacing of the overall story. I could have easily added a good dozen more chapters to better fill out the last year, make Jack/Erana more obvious, build up more to Cie/Voya, cover the training regimens... but this series is already ludicrously long and somethings just have to get cut so that I eventually finish all of this. :/

Infernus → They'd have probably had to go onto the Nexus, and would probably have had to install something to wake Voya up early to start researching a way to help Cie before she unthawed him. Would be an interesting alternate side story... ugh. No, not going to let myself go there, too many stories still on deck as it is.

Gods-own → Cieran and Jack's relationship is meant more as a mirror of Jack's relationship with Shepard, the pair of them being the only mentors she's ever really had who actually give a shit about her.


	25. Act 3-5: Endless Karma

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act III: The Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Endless Karma**

 _Date:_ 02-26-2186

 _Location:_ Silver Blades Command Center, Illium Minor, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

Behind me, the door to my workshop hissed open, heavy footfalls preceding Illyan's voice, "Should hear something soon boss."

I replied with a quiet grunt, not looking up from the weapon that I was working on.

There was a quiet sigh at my lack of a vocal response, and soon enough she appeared in the corner of my vision, sitting down in a nearby chair. "Voya and Shyeel are keeping an eye on the systems. Last report was that they'd swept up the Corsair frigates pretty easily, and that a Turian freighter was moving in to help evacuate the prisoners."

"Unescorted?" I asked, glancing at her.

She rolled a shoulder, "Yeah, civilian ship hauling ore from Freedom's Progress, temporarily conscripted by Hierarchy order. Ghai made sure to run the ID, they're legit."

I relaxed, but only very slightly. "Good. Nothing else yet?"

Illyan rolled her eyes a little, "Goddess, they're going to be fine Cie. Trena's good enough to get them through it, and they've got more than half the fleet plus a Spectre with."

My eyes half closed as I let out a tight breath, "Logically I get that. I still don't like not being there."

"I know." She sighed, reaching out and gently resting a broad hand on my shoulder. Fingers squeezed for a few long breaths before she let go, leaning back and flicking her blue eyes to what I was working on. "Adjusting the rifle again?"

"Yeah. It's been a while, never seem to have the time to just sit down and tinker anymore." I shrugged a little. "Not beyond basic tuneups and upgrades, but..."

A small smile tugged at her lips, "Just not the same?"

"No." I snorted. "Not even close. And since I've spent most of the last two weeks working on Voya's gear, thought it was time to get back to working on my own."

Illyan snorted a little. "Surprised you have the time, how many shots did you miss on that hunting date?"

My lips pursed a little. "Enough."

The tone of my voice might have told her to drop it, but Illyan being Illyan, she just smirked more widely and kept going, "Didn't she make you rebuild her entire armor set from the base patterns up? Replacing every-"

"Every strike plate, upgrading all of the shield emitters, and reconfiguring the emergency barriers, yes." I growled. "I also had to refurbish all of her weapons."

That earned me another snort. "Someone's touchy."

I was touchy because she'd, purposefully, failed to tell me that the targets we were hunting on that particular date were lizards about the size of rats that could somehow leap about a meter into the air when spooked. That I'd hit two of them at all was probably a miracle considering that I was using a weapon I'd never been much good with, along with Voya purposefully distracting me every chance she got.

"So," She continued, finally nodding to my current project, "Finally fixing the rate of fire issue?"

"Amongst a few other improvements." I dipped my head. "Korolev finally sent me the specs of the weapon that Zorah made for her, gave me a few ideas for this."

She perked up a little, leaning in and taking a closer look. "Didn't she have rotating heat sinks for that thing?"

"Yeah." I glanced up at the rough image floating in the corner of the workbench, smiling a little in thought of future projects. "Thinking of doing something similar for my own pistol, but right now I want this done first. It's a little backwards but I think it should work if nothing else it will make the next model more useful for the Huntresses that have been using them."

Illyan grunted, her eyes already flickering across the mess of scattered parts in front of me, then she glanced over at the nearby omni-forge as it hummed along, manufacturing the last of the new parts that I needed to make this work. Most of what I was working on was already done, except for the new clip design for the omni-gel ammunition that would be flash-forged into projectiles.

"Added a control switch, manipulate ammunition size. Gives flexibility, either large rounds for sniping work or smaller, more quickly forged options for short range." I settled back into my chair, glancing at a nearby console as data scrolled past. The VI was still recompiling, adjusting to the changes I'd made, and it would likely be another hour before it was done. "Also reworked the heat shunt and managed to reroute a bit more of the energy into the projectile."

Her lips pursed a little, "What are you looking at now? Rate of fire I mean."

"Figure a round per four seconds, uncharged." I rolled a shoulder. "Six or seven seconds charged at the standard setting. Light rounds will disable charging for automatic fire by default, round per second."

"That's going to run through the omni-gel fast." She grimaced, "And even with the extra bits the heat will be a bitch."

In response I flipped the weapon over slightly, revealing a series of vents I'd installed, then reached down to tap the bottom middle section of the weapon. "Still have the vents, for what they're worth. And I'm ditching the standard omni-gel canister for a filled clip design. Little less capacity but it gets rid of that bulky crap for something a little more streamlined."

"So that's what that thing is making." She glanced at the forge again, "Refill in the field?"

A hand waved to a part on my left, "Adapter to a standard canister right there. First test refilled in a couple of seconds before... well, the shut-off valve failed. That's why I'm making a new prototype."

She snorted. "Bet that was fun to clean up. What's all the crap on the front?"

I grimaced, glancing at the rectangular hole where plug-in options could be mounted. "My usual million and half ideas about what can go there."

"Cie..." Illyan sighed, reaching up to rub at her face, "I thought you settled on the grenade launcher."

I shrugged a little self-consciously. "Yeah, but what if you want a flamethrower or an omni-bayonet instead? Might be able to re-route waste to a secondary heat sink there as well."

"Oh goddess..." She shook her head, but there was a small smile on her lips. "You're never satisfied with anything you build, are you?"

"Not really. Perfection is overrated." The fingers on my right hand drummed on the table once, "What do you think of a rotating secondary barrel assembly for the hand cannon?"

"I think the thing is already heavy as shit." She pointed out, "As cool as a concussive barrage would be from that thing."

I could only sigh and nod, turning my attention to the various modular options I had for attachments. The one I had the best hope for was a launcher for a new model of nullification grenade. An Antivan group had reverse engineered an STG model that apparently 'pulsed' in sequences, prolonging the effect for up to thirty seconds. It still wasn't as powerful in terms of effect or range as a fully charged inhibitor, but since those were essentially static emplacements, it was at least an improvement over the standard model.

Expensive as fuck though... especially since T'Ravt was evidently hoarding the things for her own elite Talon teams. We'd bought a few and promptly sent them to Illium, paying off one of the big Asari corporations to copy it, but it would still be a while before we were able to buy them at anything but horrific mark-ups.

Other options, Illyan rolling her eyes as I flicked through the various half-finished design sketches I'd drawn up, included a standard grenade launcher, a five second flamethrower, a technical launcher with space for five mines, a two-shot submission net launcher, my first attempt at a thermal clip attachment to allow a 'burst' of fire, and seven different types of one-shot weapons. Mostly shotguns.

"So." She asked cautiously as I started grabbing the parts for one of the shotguns. Since it would be intended to fire once, then detach to lessen the weight, I could ignore silly things like heat venting and reloading, which was pleasant. "How are you and Voya doing?"

"Still sore from you trying to kill us three days ago." I remarked casually, "Still an overreaction by the way."

My Harath'krem grimaced. "Cie, it's _Jack._ You know the kind of crap she's into... not that I'm against it or anything, but it's my sister and I don't want her first time to be all... rough and crap."

"I'm sure she'll leave the whips and chains in the closet for their first time." I replied dryly, "Illyan, just admit that you're freaking out because she's less your sister and more your daughter."

Her grimaced deepened, two blue hands rising to rub at her face. "Athame's... shit. She's practically yours too."

I rolled my eyes, "No, I'm the uncle who lets her get away with crap when you have me watch her."

The comment earned me a growl and a light punch to the shoulder, "Yeah, and I still have to pay you back for all that shit. Asshole."

"Illyan," I sighed, reaching up to rub my shoulder, even a light tap from her didn't exactly feel all that gentle. "She's _ninety_ , she's got at least a decade, if not two, on half of Aria's dancers... and we could all be dead inside of a year or two at this point. Let her live a little."

It was a low blow, and I knew it. Her large body tensed and quivered a little, and a quiet oath came out before she looked firmly away from me.

Reaching out, I gently rested a hand on her shoulder, "And like you side, it's Jacqueline. She'd immolate herself with her own biotics before she did anything that would make her like the assholes who abused her. If anything it's going to be Erana who could be pushing for more to happen faster."

A heavy breath escaped her nose, "Yeah... I guess. If she fucks up though, can I break something?"

"I already told her I'd give her to you... and Ghai." I squeezed her shoulder for a brief moment, then let go and turned back to my project. "And that the two of you could use your imaginations."

There was an almost started pause, and then a quiet laugh. "All right... fair enough. Can I still threaten her a bit?"

"Why not?"

Her chuckle deepened into an actual bark of laughter, her good mood restoring itself as quickly as it typically did. "So. You and Voya. How's that going?'

I exhaled, sharply, my own good humor fading quickly at the return to that particular subject. "Illyan..."

She spread her hands apart, tilting her head in the Batarian way to tell me she wasn't meaning offense, she was just curious.

Sighing again, I shook my head. "We're taking it slow, it's an adjustment for the both of us."

Which was, perhaps, and understatement. That Voya and I loved each other wasn't in question, that I was physically attracted to her wasn't one anymore either. But Voya remained... well, Voya. She was anything but a touchy kind of girl, and even with me she avoided physical contact like the plague, excepting those rare occasions when she thought a touch was required to make a point. The extent of our physical relationship was a second kiss brought on by me dying my hair black and then allowing her to add the bright blue edges to where she wanted them.

Not that I was complaining. As much as I wanted sex, even being around her was... calming, odd as that was given her personality.

"So that's what, two dates so far?" Illyan asked, shaking her head. "I don't count those times you two were in here working on her gear. Definitely not."

I snorted, "We count them. It's relaxing for us."

Blue eyes rolled, "Athame's ass, you're both weird... fine, fine. Those times, that hunting trip, and that trip you took to Fumi. Talons really sold Ironhold back to us?"

"They did." I rolled a shoulder, finally abandoning any hope of working further and starting to shut the workbench down. "We went to that bar nearby, the one we always took Trisren to. Same bartender even... food was good."

"Bet that was nostalgic." Her voice quieted a little, probably remembering the times the three of us had gone there with Rane'li, and later with Jarick.

But before I could reply, my omni-tool flashed with an incoming alert. A quick gesture brought the call up, my legs already extending as I got to my feet, "Voya, report."

" _Transmission from T'Laria, holding for you_." She reported, her voice tight. Bad news.

I cursed softly. "En route, two minutes."

Illyan was already up as well, tossing me the formal coat I'd left on top of a shelf. I caught it and hauled the armored thing over, feeling the bottom sections kicking at my legs as I shoved the door open and got moving. I didn't quite run down the halls, that wouldn't have sent the right message, but I stretched my long legs out as best I could and kept my head tilted to the right to make it clear that I was in a hurry.

Those staff members on duty, not that there were many considering it was the middle of fourth shift and thus local 'night', immediately cleared out of our way, though I noted more than a few trailing after us. Probably hoping to hear the results of the engagement. I grimaced, but didn't have Illyan tell them off. If shit had gone down, hiding it wouldn't do anyone any good, better they know the actual story to stop rumors.

Entering the main command center, I slowed my pace a bit, finding Voya, Shyeel, and Ven all standing inside the nearest command pit. Trena's image was flickering in place above the holographic display, her short frame in full armor stained with more than a bit of red blood.

" _Ape._ " She sounded as exhausted as she looked, nodding as I entered the camera's range. " _Mission's done, we're loading the last shuttles back up now."_

I exhaled sharply, "Casualties?"

" _Low, thank the fucking goddess."_ She shook her head, _"My team's beat to shit and we took some wounds, but we'll all make it. That Spectre is alive, handling the follow-up. Hierarchy fleet is on the way."_

My shoulders started to relax, but something in her tone told me not to. "What's the problem?"

" _That facility was..._ " Her head shook, " _Shit. It was pretty fucking dark ape. They were fucking with Reaper shit."_

Athame's ass... of course they were. A round of murmuring went up from the various staff listening in above us, mostly people who would eventually become the officers of the Fifth and Sixth regiments. I felt my hands curl briefly into fists, though I managed to keep my body in rigid Batarian neutrality.

"Details." I exhaled the word, "Give me the full run down, start with the naval engagement."

Trena grimaced, nodding to someone out of view as she took a limping step aside. A moment later, a weary looking Captain T'Voth moved to stand in her place.

" _Sir."_ She gave me a quick Batarian bow before continuing, " _Our initial approach went as well as could be expected. We consolidated at our endeavor point in the system's Ishar Halo, and made a formation FTL jump. Broadcasting her authority, Spectre Severa demanded the Corsair ships stand down. They did not."_

I grimaced a little, surprised that Severa had even bothered to make the attempt.

Jun T'Voth sucked in a quick breath, then resumed, " _We destroyed two of the frigates immediately, the third briefly managed to evade our fire and attempted to flee to FTL. Captain ul Shren was able to block the jump with his own corvette, and the enemy was subsequently destroyed when it moved to evade. I wish to recommend him for a bonus."_

My eyebrows went up a little, and I heard Shyeel murmur an appreciative few words. "Consider it granted."

" _Thank you sir."_ She bowed again, " _At Commander T'Laria's order, we began offloading troops at once. Enemy reinforcements arrived approximately seventy three minutes later. Two light cruisers, a destroyer, and a frigate, all human make but broadcasting no IFF signatures. I assembled the fleet into a Khar'shan battle sphere, but the enemy did not approach. We exchanged limited, long range fire while they made two attempts to trick me into breaking formation. When I refused to do so, they received a large data transmission from the surface...after which they departed."_

"Dammit." I exhaled. "They copied the data?"

" _Yeah ape."_ The screen shifted, abruptly zooming out to let me see both of the short Asari, Trena sitting on a chair while Washana knelt beside her, bandaging her right leg. " _We couldn't get to the control room fast enough to stop that, but we did keep them from deleting the data when they were done. Most of it, at least."_

From there, Trena rewound a bit, going back to the initial landings. Severa had already been harassing the target when they'd come down, and had actually lured a good number of the guards outside to try and chase her and her small team. Trena and B'Mara had taken advantage of that, making a hard combat landing and surrounding the Cerberus forces in the ruins of a few houses. Leaving a full platoon to keep them pinned down, and trusting that Nel could handle things outside, Trena had taken the Hunting squads and linked up with Severa before heading in.

Where they'd found... something a lot like the research facility from game three, albeit one that was apparently far more intelligently built and run. Which, in its own way, made it equally as fucked up even without the whole 'lure refugees to their death' aspect. Scientists and guards were kept _very_ far from anything with potential indoctrination effects, with the pieces of Sovereign they'd acquired actually buried far below the mansion proper. All of their experiments involving the things were actually conducted by remotely controlled mechs _._

 _"Place was supposed to be their version of Aria's top secret compound."_ Trena grunted, stretching out her wounded leg and exhaling. " _They've got a bunch of prisoners inside, all of them from corporations that Arterius and T'Soni owned back in the fucking day. All of 'em were supposedly indoctrinated before they even got here."_

I felt my fingers twitch as Voya let out a furious sound, her voice low and dark. "Were they husking people?"

" _Not yet._ " Scales grimaced, " _But it was on the fucking to do list. Place was fucked up, and that glowing eyed fuck wasn't being told shit."_

Of course he wasn't... goddess Harper, would it fucking kill him to just have _one_ operation that didn't go rogue? "What did you find?"

" _They were supposed to use up the poor fucks they already had, then put them on dragon's teeth to observe the husking process."_ She exhaled heavily, " _Once they were done with that, they were to destroy the artifacts and teeth, and shift their focus to confirming the data they're trading with Aria. Another cell would raid another of the Matriarch's compounds and get them Levi-indoctrinated to mess with for that."_

I frowned slightly, glancing at Voya as her own eyes narrowed, then back at Trena. "That sounds less evil and fucked up than I thought..."

" _Same._ " Trena nodded, " _Up until the fucking security chief convinced the science types that a few more test subjects would help them figure shit out faster, and that they didn't need to tell their boss crap. That he'd reward them for results."_

Shyeel let out an irritated sound, "Explains the prisoners. Any specific reasons behind the targets?"

" _Security asshole had a hard-on for Turians, goddess fucking knows why."_ Her expression twisted. _"Jack immolated the fuck, but we found a few logs. Guy was practically having a fucking orgasm just from thinking about forcing them onto the dragon's teeth."_

"At least we got there before they could start that shit." I spoke, keeping my voice even. "The prisoners?"

 _"Plenty of doomed fuckers down below, Severa put them out of their misery."_ She rolled a shoulder, " _Rest are fine, if malnourished and furious. We let them deal with the Cerberus assholes who tried to surrender."_

Voya made an approving sound, and I nodded as well. "Good. Any other data?"

" _Their head researcher tried to quit, we got him into a side room without the Spectre noticing._ " Trena's expression became abruptly... complicated. " _Mirala... did her thing. I let her, fucker didn't deserve to survive after what they were planning._ "

Shyeel and Illyan abruptly looked much the same as scales; their faces somewhere between nauseous, revolted, and terrified.

I pursed my lips, "What did she learn?"

" _Lots of crap that she's still transcribing, but two main objectives."_ Scales glanced at Jun, " _First was an indoctrination sensor, think they were damned close to one. Aria's own freaks might be able to work out something from the hard data and what she found. Second was a means to control the signal, take over the husks. But that was supposed to be a long term goal, not something to work out right then and there. "_

I grimaced. "We'll give it all to Aria and the Broker, they've got their own pet psychopaths who might be able to work it."

There was an abrupt sound from Voya, her upper lip pulling back. "Do you think they're operating in a similar fashion?"

Based on the messages that Aria had shared with me, and the few conversations I'd sat in on, the crazy Asari running the facility probably _wanted_ to, but Aria was keeping a tight hold on her leash. I wasn't entirely sure why, I didn't assume that Omega's Queen had anymore morals than the Illusive Man did, but my guess was that of practicality and safety. Leviathans could definitely operate through both their indoctrinated and their husks if an orb was around, so making more of them was the kind of idiocy that just got your secret project identified even faster.

Athame alone knew what the fuck the Reapers could see or hear through their own husks... and they didn't even need the fucking relay of a physical object like the space-shrimp did.

"I doubt it, Aria's not that stupid." I shook my head, trusting Voya to work out the rest on her own. "Scales, can you confirm that this was Prometheus?"

Her floating image winced. " _Sorry ape, files are encrypted as 'Despoina'. We've got a bunch of crap to go through, but I doubt we'll get any pointers to other cells. Fuckers are too paranoid."_

Dammit. "Confirmed... shit. Get everyone back aboard, tell them well done for a successful op. Consolidate all the data you picked up so we can give it to the Queen. Where's B'Mara?"

" _Making sure the wounded are aboard."_ Trena shook her head, " _Girl did good, needed a kick in the ass from Ghai at the start, but kept her head above water when it started._ "

"Good." We'd need some kind of award scheme to go with bonuses... shit, that was something I really should have thought of. Not that I wanted to clutter up our uniforms with pointless bloody medals, but campaign markers or ribbons could work. "How long to get back?"

" _The ships need a discharge."_ Jun spoke up once again, _"There was a dead world in the outer system, we'll rotate back out there and stay out of the Hierarchy's way... we'll drop a drone or two to make sure they don't follow us. If they do, I'll retreat to the Gerid system and drop charge before heading for Omega."_

I grunted in approval, "Take your time and be cautious, send routine alerts as you feel the need."

" _Yes sir."_ She bowed again, while Trena merely gave me a tired wave as the transmission cut out.

"Well that was mostly good news." Illyan exhaled, shaking her head a little and raising her arms in a shooing motion. The scattered underlings who had been observing obligingly scattered away, getting back to whatever it was they were supposed to be doing at this late hour. "Right boss?"

"Yeah." I muttered the word, not really feeling as relieved as she was. "Could have been worse." I saw Voya winced at my flat tones, and I closed my eyes and shook myself a little. "Right. Shyeel, Illyan, Ven? Do me a favor and draw up some kind of reward and honor scheme, for crap like what Shren did."

Ven bowed his head politely, "I believe Commander ul Massa has something similar already setup, I will see what I can locate."

"Good, I also want battle icons though. For each regiment, in the Turian style." I added. "Something to mark where each unit has fought."

Shyeel nodded, "Easy enough, we'll come up with something. You going to talk with the Broker?"

"And Aria." I grimaced, rubbing at my forehead. "Your thoughts on the situation?"

Ven pursed his tanned lips, flicking his lower eyes between our little group before shaking his head once. "I'm afraid I'm not a soldier, Reyja'krem, or a scientist... but I do worry about these Reaper artifacts. I cannot imagine that a group such as Cerberus would place _all_ of their available relics in one location. Especially if those running the facility had orders to destroy them at the end."

I grimaced even as Shyeel grunted, "I agree with the kid. Another thing, that security chief conning the scientist... you don't lead a group like Cerberus without knowing how to play people. I think mister glowing eyes knew they'd exceed his orders and didn't give a shit. No fucking way he unknowingly assigned a Turian hater to a planet with a small, easily attacked, Turian dominant colony."

"Agreed." Voya twisted her lips, "I think he kept his orders clean, but expected them to be broken for a reason. Internal problems?"

"Possibly." I exhaled, shaking my head. "So... Harper's trying to make himself look cleaner than he is, reason unknown. We found and destroyed one cache of Reaper shit they were about to mess with, but there is likely more at other projects. Even better, this was a project whose name we didn't know, which still leaves plenty of questions on the others."

All four of Ven's eyes tightened in a wince, "As your Harath'krem said; At least it was a victory, Reyja'krem."

"True..." I blew out air between me teeth, "Right. Voya? Walk with me. You three get some sleep, work on that honor and bonus thing tomorrow. Ven? I'll have Erana stop by for the weekly update."

He offered a quick bow, while Shyeel and Illyan merely nodded. I nodded back, Voya falling in beside me as we headed to the main lifts. The trip up to my office was quiet, me mostly trying to keep my emotions in check, her mostly eying me as if she knew exactly what was going on inside my head.

Something she more or less proved the moment my office door was secure behind us, her voice quiet as I started to draw up messages. "You're that worried about Prometheus?"

"Yes." The fingers on my left hand clenched, then relaxed as I exhaled. "Dammit. Whatever it has my contacts spooked badly enough that they're talking to me in the first place. If we can get data on what the fuck it is we can parlay that into..." A red light began to blink rapdily on my desk, interrupting my irritable rant. "Oh you have to be fucking kidding me!"

" _Honored Reyja'krem._ " The same poor woman who'd given me the call from Severa practically squeaked my title, clearly having heard me even as she activated the emergency system. " _I'm sorry sir, but... emergency transmission from Captain Joa T'Voth."_

"Put..." I sucked in a breath, forced myself to count to five in Khellish, and then again in Highborn, then managed to reply evenly. "Put her through."

Rather than say anything, she simply did so. A few seconds later Joa's smooth voice emerged from the communications system, a flickering image appearing in the air above the wood paneling. She looked far more awake and alert than the staff down below had been, though she didn't comment on our appearance.

" _Cie, problem._ " Her jaw was clenched as she spoke, " _Another Collector attack, at Novgorod this time."_

Fingers rose to pinch at the bridge of my nose. When I died, I was going to punch Athame. I didn't give a shit if she drowned me for an eternity after. "Dammit. Our satellites mark the time of the attack? I don't think we can-"

" _Cie._ " Joa cut me off, " _One of the out-system drones hit the FTL buoy with a burst transmission when it picked up the Collector ship arrive. The attack is happening right the fuck now. You have to get Jun's ships over there, at least to observe shit, no way we can make it in time."_

Voya hissed, "The fleet is still at Carastes and has to drop charge, then route back through Omega to get anywhere."

" _Athame's fucking..."_ The former pirate audibly forced herself to stop cursing. " _It's a twenty-two hour trip for me, Novgorod's way the fuck out there."_

And the Collectors would be long finished collecting by the time she could get there. Dammit. I did some rapid mental math, helped by my greybox, and didn't like the numbers that came up. "Athame's goddess-damned azure... we are not in position to deal with this. Who is your best corvette captain?"

She bit her lip, " _Probably ul Feerin. Lowborn girl, not the most experience... but she's loyal, and the crew is solid."_

I grunted, my implants attaching her name to her ship, "She's got the _Will'o'wisp_... you think she can handle this?"

" _I wouldn't have put her on the deck if she didn't_." Joa replied, " _But this will be her first real test, and you never know how someone will react."_

"Then let's hope you picked well." Voya murmured, "I don't think we have a choice on this one."

"We don't." I agreed quietly. "Joa, get her on this line."

The Asari Matron grimaced, but nodded and barked at her bridge staff to get it done. Less than a minute later a young, tan-skinned Batarian woman appeared in a separate screen, her head already bowing to me. " _Honored Reyja'krem."_

"Captain Feerin." I replied, tilting my head to return her respect. "We have an independent task for you."

She swallowed visibly, then closed her lower eyes before injecting steel in her spine. When she spoke again, her voice was nothing but confident. " _Yes sir. My ship and crew are prepared."_

"I know." I nodded slightly, "Our picket satellites indicate that there is a Collector attack currently underway, colony is named Novgorod. Unfortunately due to the Carastes operation, none of our ships are actually in position to get there in time to observe or intervene. Worse, even at your best speed, it's entirely possible that you won't be the first ones on site."

Voya slipped past me on my right, bringing her omni-tool up. A moment later what little data we had on the system was hovering above her wrist, and I flicked my fingers in silent thanks as I continued speaking. "To that effect, you are to make your best speed to the H87 system, discharging your core there. From there, you will enter the Novgorod system and run as quiet as your ship can manage. Your orders are to retrieve all five picket satellites and their data, assuming they were not destroyed, and then return to Omega as quickly as possible."

" _Yes sir."_ Ul Feerin bowed her head again, " _Should I investigate the colony?"_

Joa grimaced, " _You only have a half-squad of marines, that's not much to work with. Even a cursory look over will take forever, and if Cerberus or the Corsairs show up with any real firepower you'll be in fucking trouble."_

Which was true, but... _fuck,_ we had to find something to give to Mordin or Aria's people, even a single seeker so they could help come up with some kind of counter. I didn't believe, not even for a second, that the stupid things wold only work on humans as they had in my implants, and we likely only had a limited number of chances to get what we needed before they hit one of the colonies we were protecting.

"If you don't detect any other ships in system," The order came out almost unwillingly, even as I made my language stringently clear. The last thing I wanted was her risking her people just to try and get data we'd have at least one or two more shots at... I hoped, "You are to send your shuttle and marines, _not yourself_ , to the colony to investigate. However, if you even pick up the smallest particle trace, heat bloom, or even a bit of odd radio waves from the bloody sun, you are to collect them and leave the system at once."

Another swallow, and another bow. " _I understand sir, I will do nothing to risk my ship or my people. If I believe we are not alone in the system, I will abort and return at once with whatever data we have collected."_

I inhaled, shifting languages to Highborn as I bowed my head, "Pillars guide your steps, Captain."

Feerin colored a little, and quickly bowed her own head more deeply to the left. " _Pillars guide your steps, Honored Reyja'krem."_

Her image faded a breath later. Joa remained on the line for several more minutes as I caught her up on how the Carastes operation had went, and assured her that her full fleet would be returned to her within the week.

Then she was gone to, and it was just Voya and I once more.

"Well..." She murmured, crossing her arms in my peripheral vision. "...shit. Who was supposed to handle that region?"

"New Canton group." I exhaled, my frustration welling up once again. I'd over-committed the fucking fleet to the Carastes operation to make sure they could bully Cerberus into backing down and not risking a fleet action, and that had _worked..._ but I hadn't expected another goddess-damned Collector attack to happen almost at the same bloody time.

I let that patch of water boil for a few breaths before I forced myself to calm the fuck down. Illyan and Ven were right, we _had_ won that particular battle, and we _had_ saved a lot of Turians, and hopefully we _had_ proved to the Hierarchy that we weren't just a bunch of psychopaths. All of that was important and necessary, even if the project in question hadn't been the one I was hoping it was.

And speaking realistically, there hadn't been any real chance that we would _always_ be the first ones on site after a Collector raid. It was entirely probable that scavengers, or civilians, or pirates, or Cerberus, or who fucking knew who else would beat us to at least _one_ colony. Frustrating, yes, but I was getting far too agitated about this.

"Have to copy Aria, and the old fish on the data from Carastes, at least what we have so far." I exhaled sharply, "And send out alerts to B'Nor, and whoever Nel left in charge on New Canton."

Voya regarded me steadily for a few heartbeats, then twitched her head once in a negative. "Have Shyeel do it, or Erana. We're going to go spar."

I opened my mouth to say no, then closed it as I actually considered it. I was frustrated with the situation, and close to angry at the universe in general... and I was annoyed at myself for letting my emotions get to that point when logically I thought that I'd taken a good risk for the right reasons.

"Fine." I exhaled, turning back to my desk and tapping one of the controls. The internal comm listing dutifully appeared, and I irritably stabbed at a name. It hummed for barely a heartbeat before she picked up, "Shyeel, were you copied on that call?"

" _Unfortunately."_ My fellow Reyja'krem sighed, " _I'm about to have work to do, aren't I?"_

"Yes." I admitted. "I'm too fucking pissed at Athame to handle crap diplomatically, Voya and I are going to spar until I get a handle on shit. Get Erana's ass out of bed, have her help you draw up messages to all of our senior commanders and send them out immediately. Tell her she has first shift off tomorrow."

There was a quick pause, " _This just you being you, or shit in your head causing problems?"_

Voya snorted, "Him being frustrated at not being with on Carastes, then him acting like a childish _bosh'tet_ because things aren't going perfectly."

I turned and glared at her. It was true, but she didn't have to bloody say it out loud, especially not to Shyeel. Girlfriend or not, my glares evidently still had an effect on her, her tongue briefly appearing as she licked her lips before quickly looking away.

Grunting, I turned back to the desk, "Shyeel, just handle it please."

" _Yeah, on it."_ The Asari sighed, " _I'm taking tomorrow off entirely for this though."_

I couldn't help but snort, "You don't do shit anyways."

" _What was that? Voya, did Cieran just say something? I couldn't hear it over the sound of a childish bosh'tet whining."_

"That is _not_ becoming a fucking-" She hung up on me mid-sentence, leaving me glaring at my desk. "Voya..."

"Yes?" She asked, her arms crossing her chest when I looked back at her, glowing eyes narrowing at me in return. " _You_ don't get to be annoyed for someone saying a blunt truth."

The fingers on my left hand twitched a little. "Have a runner bring our training equipment to courtyard two. All of the equipment."

She blinked, her arms lowering a little. "All of it? Cie, I thought we would just do some hand to hand."

"Shyeel isn't going to let that go for _months._ " I countered, turning on a heel and walking past her. "Forgive me for wanting to shoot you a few times."

Behind me, I heard a muttered curse, though I wasn't sure if she was directing it at herself, myself, or at the universe in general.

Ninety minutes later, the cursing was definitely directed at me.

Voya hit the metal decking of Omega with a snarled oath, barely avoiding the unpowered submission net I'd launched at her. Turning the motion into a rapid roll, she flung a grenade at me as I pursued her, forcing me to skid to a stop and dodge into a piece of cover before the simulated fragmentation grenade detonated.

The moment the muted detonation went off, I swung around, a grenade of my own flinging out even as my pistol came up. Voya neatly ducked the grenade, leaving to explode behind her, and came at me with the paired metal rods that matched the weight and length of her monomolecular knives. I managed one snap shot that hammered at her shielding before she was on top of me, my left gauntlet flicking to life as I frantically parried a thrust aimed at my gut.

Leaning back was the only thing stopped me from taking the second 'knife' to my face, kicking my right leg up hard as I fell back. I almost never actually used my legs in that way, and she was entirely unprepared for the blow to her own stomach, having brought her arms up to block a punch or deflect my gun if I tried to shoot her. She rocked back a half step before planting her feet, but even that tiny moment was enough for me to get my gun back into line and put a training round into her shields, shattering them entirely.

Then it was her turn to do something unexpected. One arm came up and parried aside my hand cannon before I could end the engagement, while her second hand actually dropped her weapon in favor of ripping another grenade from her belt. I had enough time to blink before noise, light, and smoke exploded outwards from the stupid thing, my HUD flashing rapidly as it tried to filter out all of the crap.

Cursing, I threw myself backwards, then broke into a run to my right, trying to break contact until the effects faded. Voya, typically, didn't cooperate with that plan, tackling me just as I started to get clear. We rolled twice before coming to a stop with her on top of me, a sharp crack echoing as she slammed one of her training rods down right next to my head.

"Kill!" Someone in the crowd we'd drawn shouted the word, evidently they'd bet on Voya this particular round. A chorus of cheers and complaints sprang up almost at once as recruits, civilians, and off-duty mercenaries promptly began exchanging credits and laying out their requests for the next round. They'd started to show up midway through the second round, and had only grown in number as we'd kept brawling in public.

It was almost enough to make me regret choosing to come out into the courtyard training area instead of just staying in the command center for a regular spar... almost. I'd worked out my emotions in the first two rounds, hammering her with weakened gunfire and barrages of tech mines before she could try and get setup or cloak herself to evade. Unfortunately I'd also pushed myself far too hard in both, and she'd been more than eager for some payback, winning the next two via adroit use of her sniper rifle and grenades that flushed me out of cover.

I'd taken round five, having cheated and sent a runner to pick up a piece of Krom's old gear after she'd beat me down in round three. He'd returned and handed it to me while Voya had been checking her equipment, and I'd triggered the holographic decoy right after a smoke grenade. She'd taken the bait and blasted it, neatly revealing her location and letting me pin her down and close the range. It had still taken me a good five minutes to work her out of the position she'd secured, but I'd done it.

Unfortunately she, not being an idiot, had decided to change her tactics entirely in the last round. Leaving her sniper rifle behind, she'd come at me fast and hard, staying mobile instead of bunkering down. As tired as I was, I hadn't been able to adjust my mental plans nearly fast enough, resulting in what had just happened.

"Dammit." I groaned the word, letting my head fall back as my lungs worked for more air. She wasn't in much better shape, her armored chest moving rapidly as she gulped down oxygen. "That's three rounds each..."

"Yes." She panted, "Fucking _keshin,_ kicking me."

"You dropped a bloody flash-bang right at our feet." I grimaced, shaking my head a little. "How the fuck did you see through it?"

"Didn't. Guessed." Voya shook her head, groaning as she slowly forced herself to rise. "You usually go right when you're too tired to think."

"Dammit." I repeated tiredly, rolling onto my side once she was off me, gathering my own legs beneath me. Another bad habit I didn't know I had, would have to break that somehow. "One more. Reset?"

"No... just no. Hand to hand only, I'm not doing another twenty minute running gunfight like the last round."

I eyed her through my helmet and then sighed. "Fine, let's get rid of our belts and crap.'

She nodded in exhaustion and turned away from me, then realized her mistake almost at once and tried to evade. Fast as she was, the range was much too short, and the concussive round from my pistol hammered her right shoulder blade and sent her into a spin. Flicking back to standard training rounds, I put two shots into her unshielded stomach that sent her down to the ground with a furious sound of pain.

"I win." I informed her, shuffling in her direction but making sure to stay out of her reach. "Four to three."

Glowing eyes narrowed furiously, and a slight shift was my only warning before I saw that she'd drawn her own pistol somewhere in her spin, hiding the motion with her body. Her own concussive round hit me dead-center of my helmet, blowing out my still weak barriers and sending me stumbling backwards.

My vision cleared just in time to see her rushing me, and adrenaline immediately drowned my exhaustion as an arm snapped up to parry her attempt to smash her training blade over my skull. The blow hit hard enough that two of the weakened panels on my gauntlet promptly collapsed, making me curse as I threw my forearm out, sending her past me as she kept the pressure up.

Her body twirled with the motion, stopping my follow-up punch with my left hand from connecting, and she came up in a low stance about a meter away. One blade held back against her forearm, the other forwards and ready to thrust as her eyes locked onto mine. Both of my hands rose and shifted as I tossed my pistol aside, settling into my own ready position.

Tuning out the sudden murmurs and shouts of the crowd, I kept myself still, waiting. The moment her right foot shifted slightly, I reacted.

Voya let out a startled sound as I flew across the distance between us, her backwards blade snapping up to block the jab at her head. The tech plates on the gauntlet flashed at the contact, throwing her arm back even as her other blade came up a bare breath later to parry the follow-up from my other fist.

Her petite body dropped lower to duck my third punch, and then her own weapons were coming at my thighs and knees, forcing me to rapidly backpedal as I awkwardly fought to block her low attacks. After several seconds of retreat and a pair of painful hits, I realized I was losing and shifted tactics, side-stepping and then launching a kick at her right knee. Once again the motion caught her off guard, and she only barely turned her leg to take it on her substantial hip instead of the joint.

Then it was her turn to be forced backwards and upright as I stepped back, then surged forwards, using my longer arms to keep her off balance as I threw quick cuts at her shoulders and head. A few got through her defense, blue light flashing at each contact even as frustrated sounds of pain escaped her throat. But she knew my style, knew me, well enough to avoid the damaging shots I aimed at her head and neck, focusing on those and accepting the few strikes that hit her shoulders and chest.

She regained her balance after the second jab that hit her ribs, and I realized too late that she'd taken the blow on purpose to try and draw me closer. I might have had height and reach on her, but the dense nature of Quarian bodies meant that we were actually evenly matched in terms of raw strength... and I knew from experience that if she got inside my gangling arms, I wouldn't last long.

It was thus my turn to accept a pair of impacts to my chest, taking them even as I backed up and swept an arm at her head. She ducked on reflex, and promptly took a grazing blow from my other gauntlet. Two of the tech plates promptly detonated, snapping her helmet back and staggering her. Her reflexive action, getting her blades up to protect her face, stopped her from taking another direct hit there, but breathy cursing escaped her as I hit her right hand with a frontal blow, all three panels exploding and flinging the weapon out of her grip.

I took a quick step back, avoiding a sweeping kick that she used to buy herself some space and time to recover, and kept my arms up as both gauntlets flickered, reforming their electric-blue panels. Voya let out a hissing sound of discomfort as she tossed her remaining blade to her good hand, settling into a new stance that favored her left leg.

My eyes narrowed a little, and I kept my guard up as I started to circle to her right. Behind her polarized visor, her glowing eyes became slits as she waited. Her lithe frame became a blur just as I was about to take a step, her body once more low to the ground as she sought to force me to fight in a way that I hated.

Not about the play that game, I planted my legs and held my ground, bracing myself to take a hit or two even as I waited for the appropriate moment to slam both of my fists into her shoulders. If she'd actually gone to use her blade, I liked to think it would have worked... but it was her turn to abruptly shift tactics.

Dropping her blade, she abruptly shifted laterally into a folkstyle ankle sweep, her strong fingers wrapping around my armored boot and hauling it up as she surged back to her feet. I gasped and cursed, awkwardly shifting and and hopping on my remaining leg, trying to keep my balance. She waited a handful of heartbeats, then abruptly drove forwards. I managed to stay on my foot for two hopping steps, then wavered and went down in a clatter of armor.

A foot planted itself in my gut a breath later, and then my chest bruised as a training round boomed out from her pistol.

"I..." Her words came in panting gasps. _"_ Win... you... fucking... _keshin."_

I stared at up at her, then let the back of my head hit the decking as my own lungs proving to be not quite up to the task of supplying enough air.

And the moment her gun wasn't pointed at me, I snapped my right arm up and punched her shin as hard as I could.

A high pitch yelp came as the tech plates went off, and then all of her weight came down on top of me as her leg went out from under her.

"I..." I coughed, trying to get oxygen into my system. "...win..."

Voya's helmet shifted a little from where her head had landed on my chest, then went limp as she simply groaned. "Ass...ancestor's...cursed... _bosh'tet_..."

Something like a whimpering laugh came out of my throat. "You...love me."

Her only response was a longer groan as people began to clamber down the steps, calling to ask if we were all right. "Don't... remind me..."

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communication Log**_

 _Shyeel: According to the training software, the final score was eleven to eight, Cieran winning._

 _Idas: Spirits but I wish I could have been there to see that happen. How much tension was there?_

 _Shyeel: It's Cieran and Voya, so a lot of it, but I think they were too sore and exhausted to do anything but collapse when they got back to their room._

 _Idas: You think or you know?  
_

 _Shyeel: Goddess but you're nosy these days. I'm pretty sure. Voya was lounging in the den this morning, no armor on, and I didn't see any marks on her neck. Pretty sure she'll let him do that once they actually start things._

 _Idas: All right, keep me updated. I don't trust Trena not to lie about it just to try and win the bet before her timeframe ends. How's everything else?_

 _Shyeel: Same as ever. Cie's been stuck meeting with Aria all day, which means he's going to be in the loveliest of moods when he gets back. Think she's interrogating him on Carastes and the Collector hunt, and isn't happy that we won't be able to tell her much until the fleet gets back._

 _Idas: Could be worse. His ice bitch of a mother has been around a few times lately, Lady Warlord's ramping up her military production now that most of the reconstruction is done. Wants to make sure we aren't exceeding our recruitment quotas._

 _Shyeel: Are we?_

 _Idas: Not on our end. Shaaryak might be cheating a bit on Illium to get some more Asari for her third regiment, but that's on the order of a few dozen. Nothing that Sederis won't ignore so long as the weapons discount stays._

 _Shyeel: Better ignore it... you know that Cieran would have to handle that shit if Sederis does push._

 _Idas: I know, but she's not doing it just to be difficult. Civil war will be done in a few months at the rate their pushing on Khar'shan, and more Ha'diq are joining up... but they're still taking losses and we still have another bloody war to fight soon._

 _Shyeel: Yeah... can't argue with that. All right, have to go help figure out who the fuck we're putting in charge of the Fifth regiment. Say hey to Faras for me, and let me know how Haro and Cie's brother react when they hear the news._

 _Idas: Will do._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 6: Changes and Plans**_

 _Didn't quite breach 9k in just the story content of this chapter, but came pretty close. Lots of updates, news, and the winding personal bits continue to threat their way throughout. Next chapter will take place as news filters in... some of it might even be good for once._

 _One little note, I finally got around to trying to make some art for the series... it's really not much, just a warship outline that I did in paint, but it's something. I plan on eventually doing all of the Blades' warship types, maybe a map of Omega... not really sure. Check the forums for updates on what I'm working on or to make requests. Images will go up on my Deviant Art page, remove the parentheses for the link to work:_

 _Fog Warrior class corvette:_ katkiller5().()deviantart().()com()/art/Fog-Warrior-675653271

 _We're at the half-way point of the arc, and with only five chapters left, figured I'd reveal their names as the usual tease. Quick note; there will be only one epilogue chapter for this story, and it will be... different._

 _Chapter 7: Irritable Distractions_

 _Chapter 8: House of Cards_

 _Chapter 9: Barroom Brawl_

 _Chapter 10: Next Steps_

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Micha → To me, its mostly cultural. An Asari raised by a human, or even more clashing- Turians, would probably mature far more rapidly... but most maidens don't have any _need_ to grow up, and their mainstream culture encourages them to act like teenagers from the time they're a few decades old up until the time they hit two hundred.

Infernus → ugh... maybe. I'll give you a _maybe_ for a one-shot consisting of Voya in Andromeda. I found the ending to be acceptable without being awesome. It's a setup for DLC and sequels, and since I'm assuming that it is the first game of a new series, I am entirely good with that.

Fenris → I'll also give you a maybe on one-shots from 2185, where the Blades were mostly doing training and setup. As for more allusions to Andromeda... probably not at this point. If it had come out while I was much earlier in the series, there likely would have been cameos a the very least, but now... probably not.


	26. Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations I

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations I**

 _Originally I was simply going to have what happened on Novgorod as a simple summary in the next chapter, but I received a one-shot request from Marcuss; with the focus being on exactly what goes down at the colony. After said one shot grew past eight thousand words... I decided it shouldn't be a one shot at all. Instead it's going to be a quick series of interlude chapters in Chevalier to give everyone a little bit of a combat fix._

 _This is going to be my first run at a Batarian point of view, specifically that of Tora ul Holt. A twenty-four year old lowborn, raised on Omega and a former member of the Blue Suns before that group's disintegration. A Liberal follower of the Pillars, he joined the Blades for the steady paycheck and the chance to create his own legend._

* * *

 _Date:_ 03-01-2186

 _Location:_ Novgorod colony, Attican Traverse

* * *

"Well," Victoria murmured quietly, her body laying prone in the rubble beside me as she stared through her Viper's scope. "That's a problem."

I pulled my lips back from my teeth. "Your capacity for understatement remains annoying. How many?"

The human female was silent, her weapon twitching ever so slightly as she adjusted it. "Three agents in those body-suit things, a dozen more in the heavy armor, one guy who might be an officer... has some kind of combat shield and fancier plating."

"Pillars damn those monkeys... no offense Vic." I let out a ragged breath between my teeth.

She rolled a shoulder, keeping her attention where it needed to be, and I carefully slid backwards, making sure to keep my coat around me as I did. The cloth rippled a little, adjusting its camouflage patterns to keep me hidden, and I made a mental note to compliment Cellesariel for finding them. It was nowhere near as efficient as a full active system, but it as far better than nothing. In either case, I had to move very carefully to avoid making noise, and it took nearly a minute before I was far enough back to risk rising into a low crouch.

The rest of my team glanced up as I approached them, all four holding their weapons tightly.

"Sixteen, Cerberus." I informed them, dropping a knee to the ground and forcing my posture to remain confident. "They're moving slowly, focusing on checking each building."

"Sixteen is a bit more than we can handle." Calius murmured, my Turian second pitching his voice as low as he could. "How did they evade the ship's sensors?"

"With all of the debris and heat wash, wouldn't be hard." Cell offered, the Asari keeping his soft voice down. "Especially for just a couple of shuttles or a pinnance."

I cut in quickly before the speculation could continue, "How they got here is irrelevant, we have to assume they will be hostile after the operation on Carastes. We have the dead pirates, destroyed Geth, and those... bug things. We have to keep them away from the shuttle while the crew gets it all loaded."

Even with his helmet, I could tell that Calius was flickering his mandibles unhappily. "And do it without talking to them, or the ship."

"Yes." I nodded sharply. "That's why we're going to be splitting up. Joten, Ori. I want you two to get back to the shuttle and get everything on board. Tell them what's happening. When you get everything loaded, fire off a flare and get airborne. We'll fire one as well to indicate our location for pickup. Do not break radio silence even if you hear us do so."

"Got it." Ori drawled, the irreverent ass the same as ever. "Well stuff the corpses in as tight as we can and keep our mouths shut while we defile 'em. Should we dump the sensor equipment?"

"Only if necessary." I pointedly shifted my attention to Joten, "Make sure that idiot helps Zera and his brother, I want you to set your explosives up on the main approach."

Joten gave me a quick bow, rising and grabbing Ori's arm to haul him up as well. "I'll make sure the faithless actually gets some work done. Pillars guide your steps Unit Leader."

I tilted my own head, returning the respect offered by the fellow male. The two got moving after that, bickering in their usual fashion almost at once, though they retained the good sense to keep their voices down to bare whispers.

"And us?" Cell asked softly.

"We're going to make sure that Cerberus doesn't find our shuttle." I exhaled sharply, "By any means necessary. I need the two of you to head to the restaurant, the one with the Armature collapsed across it. That will be the first location they see if they head in our direction."

Calius nodded sharply, "Good position. I can setup both of my turrets inside, Cell can coral targets with her biotics. Which direction should we fall back?"

"Towards the wall." I gestured towards the curtain wall that had protected the colony from the planet's less than welcoming wildlife. "Back to the militia bunker. Vic and I will cover you from a position just down the street. Keep your turrets on standby unless she shoots first."

They both nodded, rising into low crouches and getting moving. Leaving them to it, I turned back and started creeping my way back to where Vic remained prone. A slight tug at her ankle got her attention, and she began scurrying back with me when I beckoned her to follow.

The young alien easily kept pace with me as I explained the situation, her helmet nodding to show me that she understood the situation. "My targets?"

I narrowed all of my eyes, dipping my head a little to the left as I thought on it. "Body-suits if you can, the probable officer otherwise."

She gave me a sharper nod, and I tilted my own helmet a little further, pleased that she didn't bother with further words. It did not take us long to reach the first evidence of the battle that had occurred at the colony, damage appearing on the various buildings and upon the ground. Here and there were pieces of the strange insects that we had found, along with the more recognizable debris from damaged Geth.

The first dead Asari were found near the restaurant that Calius and Cell were fortifying, at the base of the Armature. The massive machine showed clear signs of repeated biotic strikes, and I tried not to imagine the number of pirate maidens who had been required to bring it down.

Bypassing them, we continued directly forwards rather than following the damage off and to the left. That direction would eventually lead to the pirates' base, and our shuttle, and was thus the last direction we would be going. Instead I lead my sniper to one of the colony's few towers, the pair of us quickly moving up to the second floor and setting up in a broad lobby whose open windows had an excellent view of the street.

Then it came time to wait.

"Sir?" Vic asked softly after perhaps five minutes of tense waiting. "How do you think they knew?"

"Cerberus?" I asked.

"Yes." She murmured, not lifting her visor from her scope. "They can't have gotten here much later than we did... do you... do you think they attacked the _Wisp_?"

I tilted my head, showing her confidence. "If they had, the Captain would have broken radio silence."

"Oh. Right. That makes sense." There was a slow exhalation. "Sorry sir, just a little edgy from... what we saw."

My lower eyes blinked in surprise. "I would have thought you'd seen worse on Omega, if you fought in the invasion."

For a long several seconds she said nothing, then she replied, her voice very quiet. "I did. I just... I try... I try not to think about it."

The weakness in her voice made me grimace, the section of my soul that still resonated with my father, with the Hegemony, scoffing at typical female weakness. Shoving those impractical thoughts aside, as I had ever since I had witnessed my father disemboweled by a female Turian for the insults he had offered her, I focused instead on how to pragmatically deal with her... edginess.

Of course... I had no idea how to distract a human female from such things while still keeping her focused. I did not believe that she would be partial to the wisdom of the Pillars... and I knew little about her personally thanks to her quiet nature.

"Earlier today you said that you met the true Lancers during the invasion." I offered a few moments of thought. "What were they like?"

She turned her head a little, as if surprised at the question. "Oh... I mean, I didn't... really meet them. I was just at the markets when... they showed up to help defend them."

I let out a heavy breath through my nostrils. "That is still closer than anyone else has gotten, except perhaps the ship's captain."

"Yeah... guess so." Her rifle shifted a little as she returned her visor to her scope, settling her body as she continued. "The only one who spoke with me was Lancer T'Voth... she was organizing the sniper teams while Executive Kean ran the defense. She was... commanding, severe, but... she complimented me on a few shots I made..."

I tilted my had to the left, impressed slightly in spite of myself. "A Reyja'krem does not impress easily, especially not a combat veteran such as he."

"She." Vic corrected absently, a tight breath breaking whatever she had been about to say next as her body stiffened. "Movement."

Hefting my carbine up and into place, I lowered my body as well as I could and focused my eyes. A heartbeat later I saw the small shifts in the distance, white armored figures standing out horribly against the drab metal and stone of the colony. Silence fell as we simply watched the distant targets move about, and I bared my teeth in irritation when I saw them abruptly stop and scurry forwards to inspect something on the ground.

They'd found some of the evidence then.

More quickly arrived, the armored figures moving into covering positions as the smaller figures appeared and began to inspect what they'd found. It didn't take them nearly as long as I'd hoped before the formation began rolling forwards, following the trail.

And then it was decision time.

Allowing them to establish themselves into cover and defensible positions would be idiotic, and could easily lead to me losing someone... or multiple someones. But there was a narrow chance that this particular group was unaware of the fighting on Carastes and the fact that our organizations were opposed, and talking might stall them and buy more time for Joten and the others to load the evidence. Further, I had to be mindful of my orders to not risk my people, or the ship... and engaging a force that outnumbered us four to one was decidedly risky.

I sucked in a sharp breath as they drew nearer to the destroyed Armature, one of them already pointing at it.

No, this wasn't the time to be averse to risk. This was the time for bold action, as instructed by the Pillar of Power. Only one of my team was human, those monkeys down below would sooner cut us open than speak with us. Cutting down their numbers now was the only chance we had of keeping the fight even, and the terrorists away from out shuttle.

"Pick your target." I let my breath out, settling my own carbine on an armored figure. "Fire when you have it."

The human beside me sucked in a long inhalation of her own, held it, and then pulled the trigger.

* * *

 _ **Next up is going to be Part II**_

 _This is going to be an in media res style opening, we're going to be rewinding to the Will'o'wisp's initial arrival into the system in the next chapter to properly introduce everyone. Current plans are for the interlude to be four or five chapters long, with the chapters being relatively short._

 _ **Note:** Parts II and III are already complete, will post either on 12 reviews for this chapter, or in a few days as per my usual route when I'm ahead of schedule._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

BJ Hanssen - If I'd still been writing Ronin when Andromeda came out, Vetra would definitely have been around... and this story might have gone in an entirely different direction lol.

FloridaMagpie - I believe it's been referenced, very lightly, but they're using specialized training weapons that are basically ultra-low powered copies of their main gear. Grenades and mines are mostly simulated via a training program in their HUD, and things like Cie's war gauntlets have their power turned down to (relatively) safe levels.

Tallygirl02 - When everyone is as paranoid as you, my evil plan will be complete. :P j/k


	27. Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations II

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations II  
**

 _Still from Tora's point of view._

* * *

 _Date:_ 03-01-2186

 _Location: SBS Will'o'wisp,_ Approaching Novgorod colony, Attican Traverse

* * *

 _Several hours prior_

The small locker room felt even smaller with the five members of my half-squad of marines all within it, pulling on their deep navy and silver armor. _My_ squad... satisfaction still welled up within me whenever that phrase entered my mind. In the Blue Suns I'd been nothing but a piece of cannon fodder, a runner who would have been negligently replaced the moment I'd caught a bullet. None of them had cared that I was more intelligent than the moron leading our detachment, and had more actual military training than that _chenethic..._ not that either had been difficult.

In contrast, when I'd torn through the Blades' initial training regimen, they'd been impressed enough to actually give me a choice. I could either command a unit in the forming Fourth regiment, or I could command a half-unit of marines on board one of their warships. I'd chosen the latter; independent commands always had the better chance for glory and combat, and I had no desire to sit around policing a bunch of human colonists.

Of course, I hadn't quite expected the half-squad I'd been given to be quite so... eclectic.

"Unit Leader." Joten rumbled as I entered the room, closing the door behind me. He was a fellow delta common male, his tanned head shifting as we exchanged bows. He lacked my height and build, and was oddly quiet, but he was devout, capable, and trustworthy enough to handle our small cache of explosives. "Any new orders come in?"

"No." I shook my head once, keeping my lower eyes on him while my upper pair took in the rest of the room. "We're still on approach to the system, should be arriving shortly. Our last orders were merely a reminder to the Captain to not risk her ship or our lives."

A chirping snort came from the Turian on my left, his mandibles flickering as he shook his head. "That is the kind order that I can appreciate getting."

Calius was the most acceptable of the three aliens on my team, and the dark skinned, bronze plated former Blue Sun was our combat engineer. The most private of my subordinates, I knew that he had a mate and children on Omega, though he rarely spoke of them. Still... he was a combat veteran and knew what he was doing, and was my second in command as a result.

"The order come from Senior Captain T'Voth, or from that human?" Ori ul Ghen rumbled from where he was sitting next to Joten. I felt all of my eyes narrow a little at my largest problem. As tall as I was, the teal skinned northern pureblood was a handsome bastard, and unfortunately he knew it. Rumor had already connected him to every female on the ship, even the Pillars damned Captain... and I was half inclined to believe them. As irreverent as Joten was pious, the ass alternated between making me want to rip his eyes out, and wanting to buy him a dozen drinks just to hear more of the crap he'd supposedly done.

"According to the Captain, the order came from the Executive Commander." I informed him shortly. "I'd avoid insulting him, even slightly."

"Insult him?" Ori shook his head even as he tilted it to show bemusement, a hand waving at a poster on the wall. "I'm jealous of the fur covered ass, bastard slept with Nynsi Shaaryak before I could even introduce myself."

I could only grimace and force myself to exhale calmly, glancing at the poster in question. One of Ori's many ideas to 'boost morale', it rotated on a weekly basis to keep things 'fresh'. Last week it had been the Fornax spread of the Nos Astran Stormwind clawball team, all ten of them posing nude around their championship trophy. This week's was, thankfully, far less revealing, if no less erotic. Executive Commander Nysni Shaaryak, her exotically teal skin covered by a maroon dress that had to have cost as much as this ship, posing for a photographer outside of some celebratory event on Illium.

"I mean, by the sacred Pillars." Ori kept running his mouth even as everyone else groaned, sighed, or made other displays of irritation. "Look at those legs, and those shoulders... can you imagine what her-"

"Athame's fucking ass, we get it." My only biotic, and Asari, rolled his eyes. Cellesariel was diminutive and purple skinned, and was Ori's partner and crime... and primary rival. Though I would give the Illium native his due, he at least was capable of shutting up and getting crap done when I made it clear that he needed to. "Why not transfer to the Illium branch and see if she wants whatever diseases you're carrying?"

"And miss out on your company?" Ori shook his head with a grin. "Or the chance to see Vic's lovely mane?"

We all glanced to the corner, where Victoria sat alone, as usual. The only human on the ship, the dark skinned female never seemed to know where to be and tended to keep to herself as a result. She had the awkward proportions of someone far too young to have told the truth about her age, but her skills with her sniper rifle, and the fact that she was the only member of my team to have fought in the Invasion of Omega, had made sure that I kept my mouth shut.

Her throat worked at the sudden attention, a hand rising to the dark, thick braids of fur running backwards along her scalp. She kept them exotically long, and I could admit to enjoying watching them sway as she moved, though as usual she seemed to have no idea how to react to even the mild flirtation that Ori offered her. "Just... fuck off Ori."

"That hurts Vic, it really does." He moaned theatrically, waving a hand towards the far wall. "Especially since I know you'd rather look at them rather than my handsome body."

Vic's mouth moved a few times, but no sound came out. Cellesariel sighed at the human girl's reaction and came to her defense, his voice waspish. "Hey, you get your motivational eye candy, we get ours."

I glanced that way with my lower eyes in spite of myself. Last week the pair of them had been drooling over a half naked Primarch Fedorian, an image I was sure had been modified. This week's proved to be a still image from the corporate documentary, specifically from a scene where the reporter had watched Reyja'krem Alderra sparring with Executive Kean. Both males were wearing little under Redcliffe's desert sun, and had clearly been engaged for quite a while, to Cell's audible approval.

"And at least she's met ours." Cell continued, crossing his arms. "You've never so much as seen Shaaryak in person."

Vic winced again when everyone glance at her, and I tilted my head in amusement. That Cell knew more about Vic than the rest of us didn't surprise me, the Asari seemed to be the only one that the young female would talk to. I usually only warranted stares that I couldn't decipher, and she actively avoided Ori and Joten... not that I could blame her for the former.

"You met the Executive?" I asked, intrigued in spite of myself.

"I... not really." She averted her single pair of eyes, focusing them on her Viper as she made a show of inspecting it. "I saw him... during the invasion, but it was from a distance. I...I never actually spoke with him..."

Joten smiled a little at her awkwardness, "If this goes well, perhaps we will all be able to speak with the Reyja'krem. If the Pillars truly guide us, we may even be allowed to watch as he beats Ori for running his mouth."

The male in question held a hand to his stomach as if he'd just been shot, while the others merely snorted and chuckled. I let them have the moment, allowing myself to indulge in the thought of being awarded by the Executive. That would be a good first step on the advancement up the chain of command... a well run raid here could see my little team transferred and expanded if I proved my worth. To a destroyer maybe... perhaps even to the _Headsman._ Perhaps that was dreaming too large, but I would accept our ship being trusted with more independent operations, much as the _Fireball_ was.

I cleared my throat, bringing myself up formally as I returned to the now. "Continue gear check, then report to the shuttle. Expected departure is in fifteen, depending on what we find in system. Calius, make sure they double check their gear and that the pilot has the extra sensors stowed."

The Turian nodded firmly, the pair of us exchanging quick bows before I turned and departed the room, moving back into the cramp corridors of the corvette. Making my way aft, I reached the first ladder heading up and took it, heaving myself up and into the raised command section of the warship.

Entering the bridge, I stopped just inside of the armored doorway, tilting my head to the left. "Permission to enter Captain."

"Granted, Tora." Captain Heasa ul Feerin replied distractedly, the female sitting rigidly in her command chair. Her dark navy and silver uniform remained a little too plain for my tastes, a little too human... though I could admit that the almost masculine nature of it complimented her authority well. "Is your squad prepared?"

"Finishing their checks now." I advanced into the small room, careful not to disturb the crew. There were eight others besides the Captain, all fellow Batarians or Asari, all with their gazes locked on their instruments as we approached the target system. "They will be in the shuttle and ready to head out on time."

"Good." Air whistled between her teeth in a sharp sigh, though she kept her posture rigidly proper, not letting her nerves show beyond the slight tension in her voice. It was an impressive level of control, considering the fact that she was barely older than I was and yet entrusted with the power of a warship. A tiny one, perhaps, but a warship all the same. "Oria?"

A navy skinned Asari, replied at once, his voice quiet, "Two minutes ma'am. Charge will be at ten percent... Engineering reports no problems with the core. We'll be ready to make a microjump if there's an issue."

Feerin flicked her lower eyes to the left. "Confirm that?"

Another officer, another Asari, nodded. "I have a target point in dark space already loaded into the computer, thirty seconds out from the system. We can jump there and then re-orient if there's any problems."

"Good." She repeated, her hands settling onto the arms of her chair. Keeping my own posture carefully nonchalant, I stood on her left, staring at the armored panels covering the windows, waiting for the ship to emerge from FTL.

The hum of the engine abruptly shifted pitch as it happened, the shutters rolling downwards to reveal a wide expanse of stars even as the bridge crew began snapping off reports. I grimaced at the sudden cacophony, having no real idea how Feerin managed to process the voices as information rolled out from her subordinates. Instead of trying to listen to everything, I focused on ul Cavari, his deep voice echoing a slightly as he reported on what he could detect in the system.

"Picking up some odd particle tracing... lots of exhaust wash." Everyone else went silent in a hurry as his dark eyes narrowed. "I think there's debris above the colony Captain, but I'm not reading anything moving under power."

"Corroborate with satellite data." Feerin snapped, "Continue active sweeps, all weapons remain hot."

"Attempting to connect." Another fellow male whose name I couldn't remember reported at once, his neck tilting to the left. "Satellite one... nothing. Two... I have connection! Downloading package, checking its sensor data... it has no active targets either."

I forced my hands to relax from where they had tightened into fists, tension making my heart beat faster. I didn't want there to be anything still in this system, I didn't want Feerin to have to exercise her orders and take us out before we had a chance to land on the colony.

Cavari resumed speaking after several minutes of increasingly tense silence, "I have pieces of... at least twelve ships in orbit Captain, all of them in decaying orbits. At least one of them was an Asari built vessel from the core readings, two of them... might have been Geth."

"Geth..." The Captain narrowed all of her eyes, flicking the upper set at me as she visibly considered the situation. "Not Collectors?"

The sensor operator's posture shifted to show frustration. "I don't even know what a Collector ship would read as. If there is a destroyed one out there, I can't make it out against all the background crap."

Feerin let out an irritable sound, but nodded, accepting his point. "Tora... get your team into the shuttle, and check over the colony. I want to know what happened down there, and what Asari warships and Geth are doing at a colony that was just attacked by Collectors. We will pick up the remaining satellites and then move into a parking orbit to inspect the debris field."

"Captain." I bowed my head deeply to the left, something easing inside of me. She was stretching her orders and I knew it. Given the difficulty of picking up any active vessels in orbit with the debris field, she could have just as easily ordered the ship to seal back up and jump back out system and not have been reprimanded for the decision. "We'll figure out what happened."

"Be cautious." She reminded me, her voice sharp even as I turned to go. "If there is anything down there, and considering the size of your team, I would rather they not notice you. Maintain radio silence until you are airborne once again."

My head tilted more deeply. "I'll get everyone back alive."

The Captain nodded sharply, turning back and beginning to snap off more orders to get the ship headed towards the nearest satellite. Leaving her to it, I got moving back the way I'd come, heading for the ship's forward hangar bay.

* * *

 _ **Next up is going to be Part III**_

 _Next chapter will cover the team's exploration of the colony, and as I said, is already complete. Twelve reviews will get it posted tomorrow, otherwise expect it whenever I mange to complete part IV (likely sometime around mid-week)._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	28. Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations III

I don't own the Mass Effect.

 _Released early because 5 Coloured Walker asked so nicely._

* * *

 **Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations III**

 _Still from Tora's point of view._

* * *

 _Date:_ 03-01-2186

 _Location:_ Novgorod colony, Attican Traverse

* * *

Our combat shuttle was already warming up, its engines whining to life as Calius stood in the open hatchway. He was already in full armor, including his helmet, and was holding mine out to me as I approached.

"You're always forgetting this." He sighed as I took it, "Sometimes I wonder if you're as vain as Ori."

"I'm reasonably sure that isn't possible." I replied, accepting it and puling it over my head. The HUD flickered and updated as it locked into place, connecting to my armor's systems. "Let's get moving. Zera, you sober today?"

"Fuck off." The irritable Quarian shouted back from the shuttle's cockpit, the vehicle lifting off the moment both of my feet were inside. Calius and I both hastily moved inwards as the hatch swung closed behind us, the pilot continuing on his tirade the entire while. "I have one ancestor's damned night where I cut loose and you fucking _keshin_ act like I'm a bloody alcoholic!"

Snorting, I moved past where Joten and Victoria were sitting, stepping into the tiny bridge space. "The Captain evidently thinks so, since you're the only one with a one drink max on board."

There was a deep sigh from the other Quarian male present, Vex'ten's glowing eyes glancing up at me from the co-pilot's seat. "Could you please stop irritating my brother? I need him to get us down there alive."

"He flies better when he's angry." I replied, holding on to the walls as our shuttle rocketed out into space.

"No." Vex muttered irritably, "He shoots better, but he flies for shit."

"I can hear you both." His brother growled back, three fingered hands flying across the controls as the main engines kicked in, carrying us towards the multicolored crescent shape of Novgorod. "Tora, get your black-eyed soul back there and give one of those soldier speech things. We need to focus, Captain wants us to do this quick and quiet and that shit isn't easy."

Shaking my head, I turned in place but didn't actually bother to head farther back into the cargo section. All five members of my team were already seated and looking at me, though Vic was the only one to have her weapon out. The young human was fastidiously inspecting her Viper, armored fingers dancing across its surface as she checked every minute detail.

Forgoing any kind of motivational speech, I stuck with the facts as we knew them, updating everyone on what the ship's sensors had detected.

"Our priority is going to be figuring out exactly what happened, and in what order shit went down." I informed them once I'd run them through the raw data. "Evidence of collector activity will be secondary, any Geth or Asari bodies will be tertiary. We're going to be observing radio silence while we're down there, stealth will be critical given our limited numbers."

They all nodded or otherwise showed that they heard me, while Cell spoke up, his soft tones confident. "I brought the camo-coats we picked up on Omega, those should help."

"Good thinking." I nodded sharply, "Get hose passed out. Zera? Time?"

"Just a few minutes." The pilot replied tersely as I turned back, orange light filling the view-port as we descended through the atmosphere. "I have a potential landing zone for us, according to the last map of the is place, should be the militia headquarters."

"Good." I exhaled. "If there was any resistance, that's where it likely would have been."

"Thought so." Zera grunted, the shuttle banking slightly as the fire faded to reveal an endless rush of blue-green trees. I stayed there, watching the two brothers work, breaking my attention only to pull on the rippling camouflage cloak as Cell handed them out. Hooking it into my armor's power pack didn't take long, but by the time I was done I could see a few gray towers growing rapidly larger in the distance.

"Landing in thirty." Vex informed me, "Better get ready, we're not picking up anything, but our suite isn't the best."

Nodding, I turned back to my team and brought my voice up to a half-shout, "Weapons ready, barriers up! Prep for combat landing!"

Five pairs of armored boots promptly struck the armored decking, carbines and rifles whirring as they were pulled out and allowed to expand. At a sharp nod of approval from me, they all quickly fell into disembarking positions. Joten, Ori, and Calius up front, with Cell and I in place behind them. Vic squeezed herself into the back reaches of the shuttle, holding her sniper rifle to her chest as she kept herself from being exposed when the door inevitably swung open.

Nothing greeted us as we stormed down onto the planet's surface, a cloudy sky making a drab colony seem even more forlorn as I took a moment to analyze it.

We'd landed in front of a low, bunker like building that didn't seem to have suffered any battle damage. The armored doors were flung wide open, with a simple chair actually sitting in front of one of them... likely so a lazy human guard could sit outside rather than within.

"Joten, Ori, with me to secure the perimeter. Calius, Cell, inspect the interior." I ordered as soon as it was clear that we weren't under fire. "Vic, stay inside the shuttle and cover us. Zera, keep the engines on."

"No shit you damned _bosh'tet_!"

All of us, save Victoria, got moving at that. The Turian and Asari vanished into the bunker, while we Batarians quickly moved along the grounds. The bunker had been surrounded by a low, armored wall, complete with automated turrets every fifth meter. All were old, salvaged models, but deadly enough... or they would have been if they'd be active. While I wasn't the engineer that Calius was, I was capable enough to determine that they had been hacked rather than merely shut down; their entire VI system blasted clean.

Beyond the walls was the colony proper. A curtain wall with the occasional guard tower, to protect from native wildlife I assumed, along with several colony towers of various make. Below them was the usual assortment of boxy cubes you usually got on human colonies, the cheap aliens never seeming to fully grasp the need for heavier defenses for their homes.

"Nothing inside." Calius reported five minutes later, Cell following him back out. "The same as the _Fireball's_ people reported... its as if they all just got up and left. Partially eaten food, a half-written message on a console..."

I pulled my lips back from my teeth in a grimace, glad for the helmet that hid my expression. "Everyone form up, let's get moving."

Calius nodded as Victoria hopped down from the shuttle, trotting over to join us. "Which direction? We've got roads going east and north."

One was as good as another, given the lack of evidence. "North. Loose formation, keep your eyes open for anything that might indicate a fight took place down here as well as in space. Calius, take rear guard for now."

Mixed nods and bows were the response to that, and then my little squad was moving.

I liked to think of myself as largely above such things, but I will admit to a certain degree of discomfort as we moved through the colony. The silent, abandoned nature of the place was made far worse by the obvious fact that the locals had vanished mid-action. A ground car had run into a low building at slow speed, the doors all opened. Restaurants were filled with partially eaten plates of food, now being consumed by swarms of tiny insects, and spilled drinks. Weapons and other personal affects simply littered the streets, as if they'd been in the process of being held and simply been dropped.

We avoided going into any of the structures in favor of moving quickly, looking for any obvious signs in the open streets. It took better than thirty minutes, but we found our first evidence of battle as we approached the colony's northern wall.

"Someone was shooting." Joten leaned closer, shaking his head slightly as he inspected the exterior of a building. A bank from the destroyed signs. "Standard rounds... I'd guess a high caliber though."

I narrowed my upper eyes in thought. "Locals?"

"Possible." The other male replied. "A better question is who they were shooting at."

"Geth." Victoria's quiet voice became even more so, her rifle lowering, "Dead ahead, one block. Destroyed."

"Move up." I ordered, accelerating from my slow movements into a bounding jog. It didn't take more than a few moments to reach the destroyed machine, the Geth laying prone behind a wrecked aircar. Its flashlight head had been blown to pieces, but more worrying was the melted portions of its chest plating.

"Warpfire." Cell confirmed, the Asari dropping down beside it. His helmet shifting one way and then the other as he inspected the damage. "Buckled plating on the right side... someone hit it with a throw and bounced it out of cover, then they hit it with gunfire and dark energy."

I grunted. "Conventional or those weird Asari rounds?"

"Looks conventional to me..." His voice trailed off. "Republican forces wouldn't use non-Asari weapons. Pirates?"

"Definitely possible out here." I mused, tilting my head to show that I was thinking. "But did they get here before or after the Collector attack, and why are the Geth here at all?"

"Only one way to find out boss." He exhaled, rising up.

More evidence quickly began to pile up after that. We found four more destroyed Geth as we advanced down the street, along with plenty of the internal fluids and shards of armor plating to show where more had been damaged. Drips of Asari blood showed where their opposition had been hurt in turn, though we didn't find any corpses until we discovered a destroyed Armature collapsed across a diner or restaurant.

"Omni-tool was wiped, nothing on it." Joten murmured, crouching over one of the bodies. The Asari was in mismatched armor, a human built shotgun held in limp fingers. He'd died hard, more than a dozen plasma darts having pierced his torso, and from the bloody trail and footprints, he'd kept moving and fighting through a good half of the impacts. "What do you think this is?"

I frowned, thinking that he was referring to the body, then frowned more deeply when I saw him move a hand to indicate a dead insect the size of his wrist. He carefully picked it up, turning it over, limp legs and wings dangling down as everyone stared at it.

"Caught a piece of a shotgun round." The faithful young male shook his head, "Whatever it is, it isn't natural."

"You're sure?" I asked.

He nodded firmly, holding it up for me to see. "You can pick out cybernetics inside of the damage."

Grunting, I brought my omni-tool online and began scanning the thing while the rest of the team quickly established a perimeter without being told. I flicked my upper eyes across the data as it scrolled, my lower set staying on the insect, some paranoid part of my soul wondering if the thing was truly destroyed.

"Extensive cybernetics, traces of eezo, plenty of things the scanner can't resolve." I exhaled. "Bag it, and any others you can find. Leave the bodies for now, if we don't find more we'll come back for them. I want to find the main line of resistance."

Joten nodded, drawing out a small bag from his pack and tossing the dead thing inside. We found one other that was mostly intact, along with pieces of two or three more. Then I had another decision to make, with the trail of battle going both towards the colony's center, and towards the outer curtain wall. Deciding to start with the wall, I got everyone moving once again, heading in the direction that seemed to have more debris.

More dead Geth, all simple models from what we could tell, along with more dead pirates. All had been dropped by Geth weapons, and all of them had had their omni-tools wiped clean or removed entirely.

"They were retreating." Calius murmured as we advanced, stepping closer to me as he spoke. "Blood trails... carrying their wounded with them."

"Agreed." I replied, my eyes flicking across the damage as we kept moving. "They must have been near the city center when the attack began."

"Collector attack or Geth attack?"

"Collector." I exhaled. "Those insect things aren't Geth, I don't believe... dammit. I refuse to resort to just guessing, we need hard data."

Ahead of us, Ori abruptly stopped as he moved around a street corner, his normally flippant voice low and serious. "I think we'll get your data here sir."

Grimacing, I accelerated slightly and followed him around before slowing to a stop as my eyes took in the sight. A colony tower stood with a wide space separating it from the residential buildings we'd been passing, the structure looming over several prefabricated warehouses that had been built in the shadow of the colony's wall. All of the structures had been shot to pieces, and dead littered the grounds. Scorch marks showed where shuttles had blasted away in combat take-offs, one of them having evidently melted another Armature to slag in the process.

For once it seemed that Ori was entirely correct. If we were going to find anything, it was going to be here. "Joten, take Vic and get back to the shuttle. Have Zera relocate here."

"Sir." Joten gave me a quick bow, Victoria following silently as the two began to double-back at speed.

"Ori, I want you on watch for now." I continued on, "When they get back, have Vic take your place. Cell, Calius, we're moving into the tower."

Three more quick bows were their response as we got to work.

I wold give the Asari their due... they'd died violently, and not at all easily. My eye traced the chaotic footsteps and blood splatters on the ground near the shuttle marks, and the lack of any between that point and the tower proper. The interior lobby was filled with hasty fortifications and piles of destroyed Geth and emaciated, cybered up humans. Reaper husks, if I remembered the intelligence briefings that we'd gotten during training.

Fresh ones... they still had enough flesh for it to begin rotting.

Dead pirates lay just beyond them, having clearly been trying to hold back the attackers for as long as they could before they'd retreated to the nearest stairwell. Another Asari had died there, shot down from behind, Geth prints evident in his blood as they'd stepped on and around the corpse.

We found the pirate leader on the top floor, the dead Asari slumped over his desk, easily identifiable thanks to the quality of his black and white armor.

"Ghianial Heshet." Cell murmured on seeing the corpse, a burst of his biotics clearing the insects that had already begun to try and consume the flesh. "She is... was, I guess, a decent pirate. Mostly preyed on Hegemony operations in the rimward Traverse. Heard she'd found a new base to operate out of, this must have been it."

I grunted. "His omni-tool?"

The Asari moved closer, checking the arm in question. "Nothing."

Dammit. I let out an annoyed hiss, turning as I fought the urge the pace. The slight shift brought another corpse into sight, another pirate slumped over a console in a corner. Frowning, I approached cautiously, pulling the nearly headless body away to find that the system was still online.

"Calius, see what you can get from this." I stepped away to give him room to work, my mind putting the pieces together based on what we knew so far.

"You thinking what I am Leader?" Cell asked, stepping back from the dead pirate boss.

I grunted. "Likely. Pirates must have had some kind of deal with the locals, a share of their take in exchange for using their colony as a base. They would have been here when the Collectors arrived, and whatever took out the monkeys didn't affect them. I believe... that they laid low for as long as they could during the initial strike, perhaps their fleet wasn't here. When it arrived, or when they were found, they engaged the Collectors, who then called in Geth to support them."

Cell nodded tiredly, "Tracks. Figure they had two groups, people at their base here, people at the colony's command center. Later group fought their way back here, then they tried to hold out until shuttles could show up to get them out. Most of the poor souls drowned, but a few flash-stepped their way out and then took off."

"Still leaves questions." I exhaled raggedly, my posture showing my irritation. "Why call in Geth at all, and why would the Geth obey? Where in the Pillars' names did the Geth come from that they could get here so quickly?"

"And did any pirates make it." He added quietly.

"I doubt that any did." My head shook. "But I suppose it's possible. We'll find out if the extranet is suddenly filled with their tale. Calius?"

"Not much... some kind of info-war attack cleared out almost everything." He hesitated, shaking his head. "Whoever this was managed a hard reset to get a laser-link active, used it to talk with someone in orbit. I've got a lot of chatter, trying to coordinate a pickup. I'll copy everything to a drive, but I'm not seeing anything really useful... wait. I've got time stamps. They were talking about three hours after our initial report of a Collector attack, their chatter lasted for... two more."

My lips were curling back in irritation when the quiet whine of our shuttle's engines reached my ears. A quick glance outside showed it sliding through the air as it descended, vanishing as it came in for a landing. That was ordinary enough, but Victoria waving frantically in the open hatchway was not.

"Calius, grab that body." I nodded to the dead pirate leader, "Cell, help me with the express?"

The Asari nodded, moving with me to the open doors leading out to a patio. One of his hands fell onto my back as we stepped out into the open air, the pair of us dropping slowly as his biotics flared to slow our fall. We hit the ground in a clatter of armor, Cell sucking in deep breaths as he fumbled for an energy drink.

Leaving him to it, I moved towards Joten and Vic as the pair leaped down from the shuttle, moving quickly in my direction.

"Leader," The former spoke as we met, "We have a problem, radio chatter came in from the far side of the colony. Encrypted, but Vex says its human."

"Sacred fucking... did they detect the shuttle?" I demanded.

"We stayed at street level, only popped up to get your attention." Zera answered that, the Quarian appearing in the shuttle's hatch as his brother evidently finished setting it onto the ground. "Tower is between us and them so they shouldn't have seen it, unless they have something in orbit that our sensors can't pick out from the debris."

Dammit. "Zera, I need you and your brother to load evidence. Prioritize any insects, like the ones that Jota already brought. At least four Asari, similar number of Geth as well. The wounds and construction might tell us something."

The pilot's glowing eyes narrowed. "Where are you going?"

I tipped my head slightly, "To see just who are guests are."

* * *

 _ **Next up is going to be Part IV**_

 _Next chapter will get back to the end of the first interlude, throwing us right into the fight with the cerberus team._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

Dracco - Honestly I would do that far more often if it didn't become difficult to read/keep track of who is being referred to.

Micha - I dunno, I really like the Destiny Ascension's design.


	29. Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations IV

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations IV**

 _Still from Tora's point of view._

* * *

 _Date:_ 03-01-2186

 _Location:_ Novgorod colony, Attican Traverse

* * *

 _Present_

A Cerberus agent stumbled back as the first shot rang off the shields around his skull, then collapsed in a spray of red mist as Victoria's second shot finished the job.

My own carbine began to crack as I focused on my own target, heavy rounds hammering at one of the numerous white armored figures. It was hard to tell at this range, but it seemed like his barriers dropped with strange speed, allowing the heavy-caliber rounds to smash into his armor plating. One of them evidently penetrated to hit something vital because he went down in a heap, letting me adjust to tr and find a new target.

Even as my victim fell, two more carbines abruptly opened fire, swiftly accompanied by a pair of burst-firing weapons as Cell, Calius, and his turrets joined in the barrage.

In total our ambush accounted for four targets, including Victoria's initial assassination, before the Cerberus forces fully realized they were under attack from two directions and reacted appropriately. The two remaining body-suited figures vanished behind a building, while their escort broke apart and moved rapidly into cover. One made the mistake of moving forwards, trying to utilize a crashed ground car for cover, and was hauled into the air as Cell brought a singularity to life above their position. He died with gratifying ease, but that still left us outnumbered as the terrorists got themselves organized.

Their own weapons proved to be fully automatic, three of them starting up a barrage into the restaurant, while two more began to try and throw fire in our direction. Vic promptly wounded or killed one of them while I exchanged long range fire with the other, but several grenades flew out into the street before he or I could properly sight in on the other. Smoke and chaff began spitting out almost at once, obscuring their flank... and allowing them to focus entirely on Cell and Calius.

I snarled as my HUD flicked through vision modes, none of them giving me a good target, then brought a hand to my helmet and broke radio silence, "Calius, get out of there, we have no line of sight to support you."

" _Confirmed!"_ The Turian replied at once, flares of blue and orange coloring the smoke screen as technical mines and biotic powers were used. " _Turrets aren't doing much, I think their armor is optimized to stop light, rapid rounds."_

Optimized to fight their fellow monkeys in the Alliance, or perhaps Turians then... strange. Why send a team so equipped into the deep Traverse? Lack of options?

Growling at myself, I shook my head sharply and forced my soul to focus on what I needed to be focused on. "Vic, we need to move."

The steady chatter of gunfire continued unabated as we moved, punctuated with the occasional low blast, and we reached the ground floor just as Calius and Cell broke out of the back of the restaurant. Both promptly began sprinting in our direction, neither so much as looking behind them as they ran. Victoria quickly followed my lead as I pulled a grenade off my belt hurling it to set a screen of our own. The two canisters promptly began to fill the street with even more smoke and flashes of light, swiftly joined by fire from my carbine as I fired blindly past Cell's shoulder.

It wouldn't hit anything, but it would make it clear that we were still a threat, and hopefully keep their focus in our direction.

As soon as the pair reached us, I made a quick motion with a hand and we all scattered for cover. While I would have loved nothing more than to continue to put distance between us and them, we unfortunately had to remain visible, and had to keep them more focused on us than on exploring the colony.

Settling in behind the edge of a prefabricated container of a home, I brought my carbine back up just as the smoke began to clear, revealing the Cerberus troopers as they advanced. The monkeys moved in good order, I would give them that much. Several lingered back, firing tight, accurate bursts that rang off of our barriers and allowed their companions to rush forwards with minimal interference from us.

My own fire went wide as rounds smacked off my right arm, my shields collapsing as I cursed and ducked back behind my building. Calius let out a similarly frustrated sound, though he and Victoria at least managed to drive two of the more distant targets deeper into cover. That might have been enough if not for the short distance between our 'lines', and another singularity from Cell was the only thing that kept four of them from reaching close combat in short order, though this time none of them were caught up in its effects. Instead they scrambled back and away, moving into buildings and alleyways to avoid it.

But at least we had their attention, and the singularity warped the fire chasing after us as we fell back to reposition once again. A quick glance over my shoulder made me curse when I realized that two of the troopers who'd vanished between two buildings hadn't re-emerged, and then cursed again when I realized that I had no idea where the body-suited agents had vanished to.

"No!" I snapped at Cell as the Asari made to settle behind a crashed ground car, grabbing his shoulder and pushing him back into motion. "Back to the bunker! Drop smoke!"

He let out a breathy curse of his own, but dropped his only smoke grenade, Calius quickly following suit.

I realized I'd made a mistake in sending Joten with Ori when we were about two thirds of the way to the colony's old militia headquarters. Or, more accurately, that I hadn't taken the extra few moments to take his cache of explosives before sending him off.

The Blades, as had been hammered into my skull during the training regimens, were supposed to be defensive experts, much as our Executive was. To that end, the bulk of the command training that I had received had been on how to properly defend a location against larger numbers of attackers. The problem, or _a_ problem of the many we had at the moment, was that a lot of what we'd been taught had come straight from the SIU handbook... and almost everything in said book involved using traps, explosives, and mines as a force multiplier in this kind of situation.

Worse, Cell had to drop two more singularities behind us as the smoke screen faded, the gravitational effects warping the trajectories of the rounds chasing us as the Cerberus forces kept up their pursuit. While it kept us alive, and slowed them down, the Asari was gasping for air by the time we reached the small fortifications, all but collapsing behind the low walls and grabbing at his belt for food and drink to replenish his depleted body.

"Vic." I growled, trying to come up with a plan that would see us survive this. "Take the left side. I'll handle the right. Calius, what do you have?"

The Turian twitched a shoulder as he dropped to a knee, "I've got a recon drone, can have it on a flank to warn us. East entrance?"

"Yes." I confirmed, "I want an overload-incinerate trap at the gate as well, both sides. Then setup to support Vic. Cell, get those nutrients in you, then move to my side. Everyone keep an eye up for flares."

He nodded, sucking in a harsh breath before rising and getting moving. The tech mines wouldn't be nearly as effective as full explosives, but they were better than nothing, and at least our more open flank would be covered.

The harsh crack of Victoria's sniper rifle announced that the Cerberus force had found us once again, and I cursed as I hauled myself behind the wall on the west side of the gate. Exhaling sharply, I hefted myself up onto the small firestep and started searching for a target.

One trooper went down as my sharpshooter took a second shot, while I focused on two more darting up the right side of the street. My carbine began to sound off as I fired, the heavy rounds slamming into the weak barriers of the lead target. The return fire was made on the move, and mostly just impacted the wall I was standing behind, while my own steady shots quickly tore into the white armor plating to send my target down.

Losing two more soldiers to an inferior force seemed to finally cause them to slow up a bit, the remaining terrorists falling back somewhat into cover and starting a long range exchange with us.

I let out an irritable growl as a few rounds skipped off of my helmet's shielding, dropping it sufficiently that I ducked down to let them recover. They had to be thinking up a new strategy, but I was entirely unsure of what it would be. My training said that a proper response would have been for them to drop smoke once again and roll forwards to new positions to maximize accuracy, then focus all of their attention on one target, probably Victoria.

But that was Blade tactics... Hegemony tactics. Not human ones. From what little I'd learned in the Suns, humans liked to be more mobile, they hated the slow moving, attrition fights that my own people excelled at. They would... try and flank us.

I was opening my mouth to order Calius to be alert when something struck me hard. Not on my left side, where the only other entrance to the small complex was, but from my _right._

A long burst tore through my shields before I fully processed that I was being shot, more rounds hammering into my side even as I tried to swing myself around to return fire. My heavy armor held until the trail end, then cracked audibly as two lances of agony speared their way through my chest. The fingers on my right hand abruptly ceased working as I collapsed back against the wall, my carbine dropping limply to the ground as I gasped for air.

"Squint is down!" A cocky voice shouted, my vision focusing on one of the body-suited agents as he nimbly fell to the ground, biotics flaring a bit to slow his descent, and a heavy rifle in his hands.

His grin lasted until someone put a round right into his forehead, his biotics flaring brightly to save his life. The surprised oath that followed became a howling scream of agony as Cellesariel abruptly appeared beside him via flash step, an omni-blade springing from his wrist as he drove it into his center. The Asari cut sideways as he dove aside, opening up the human's guts as he moved.

Somewhere nearby the characteristic sizzling cracks of overload mines went off, immediately followed by the deeper _whump_ of incineration mines. Gunfire and a whistling Turian battle cry preceded another human's death scream, and Victoria's viper began to snap off rounds far more quickly than it should have.

"Rushing us!" Calius snarled in the distance, my anger at my body's weakness growing by the moment. "Cell, move to-!"

His orders were cut off by shouting and more gunfire. A feminine cry of pain... Vic was wounded. More sounds of physical violence.

Snarling inside of my helmet, I fought to heave myself up, to turn my head, to grasp my Pillars damned rifle. Agony assaulted me even as I tried, the pain only driving the anger into a whirling sandstorm somewhere in my chest. I was _not_ going to die at the hands of monkey terrorists, _not_ on my first assignment, and they weren't going to take _any_ lives that belonged to _me._

"Targets suppressed, confirmed Silver Blades sir." A voice spoke even as I rose, my eyes finally properly taking in the sights in front of me.

Two, holding down Calius's snarling form, a gun held against his helmet. One standing over Victoria, the human girl curled around herself and not moving. Cell on his back, the Cerberus officer having planted a boot right on his left breast, an omni-blade at the Asari's throat.

"Confirmed... we'll save them for the eggheads to dissect." The human chuckled darkly, "No, only one who died was a squint, so no real-fuck!"

I hit the stupid thing in a driving tackle, my shoulder slamming hard into the center of his back. My wounds had prevented me from building up nearly as much momentum as I would have liked, but the stupid idiot hadn't been expecting the hit, and went down in a tumble with me on top of him.

I might not have had an omni-blade utility... but I did have a mono-molecular dagger, my still functional left hand driving the short blade into the Cerberus leader's throat. His entire body convulsed as blood began to spurt outwards, and I vaguely realized that I was snarling incoherently as I yanked the weapon back and then stabbed him again.

That was all I had time for before a round slammed into my chest, thankfully hitting a still intact strike plate, though it still drove my weak body backwards, and once again I was prone on the ground.

Still, the position left me with an excellent vantage point for what followed, my fogged vision splitting to keep track of the events. The man standing over Vic had been the one to shoot me, and rolled forwards a step, clearly aiming to finish the job. Instead he went down with a cry as the wounded girl drew her own dagger and slammed it into the back of one of his ankles. She was on him the moment he was down, her weapon cutting at weak points between armored plates as she searched for anything vital.

Cell announced her own freedom by hurling a gout of warpfire right into the head of the soldier threatening Calius's skull at more or less the same moment. His barriers had evidently failed and not recharged, as he immediately flailed backwards with a shout as the dark energy began to burn through his protection, the round intended to kill the Turian instead simply burying itself in my subordinate's shoulder. Calius let out a growling sound of pain even as he drew his pistol from his belt, putting three rounds into the other soldier's groin and stomach before the man could decide who he needed to shoot first.

Events became... disjointed, after that.

Cellesariel pulling my armor off inside of the shuttle, cursing to his goddess as he poured the substance into my wounds. Joten's serious voice relaying instructions from the ship's doctor as the Asari worked.

Tiredly glancing to my right, seeing Cell and Ori working on Victoria, the young girl's dark stomach a mess of red blood as they fought to staunch her own bleeding.

Zera, shouting something about holding on, that something was happening.

Darkness.

* * *

 _ **Next up is going to be Part V**_

 _Probably an overused cliffhanger on my end... but it works. Next chapter will be the end of the interlude, after which we'll be back to Cieran's point of view for the remaining five chapters of the act._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Meatzman/gods-own/Ireland/Dracco - The idea of Batarians referring to Asari as male rather than female was something I toyed with way back in Arrival as part of the cultural differences between Batarians and humans, but ultimately cut out since I could never quite get it to read in a way that wasn't horribly confusing and/or difficult to read. A side conversation between an Asari and an Angara in andromeda reminded me of that attempt, and I decided to go ahead and give it a try since this was from a Batarian pov. In this particular set of Interludes, yes, Taro is the only one referring to them as male, while everyone else (mostly Victoria) refers to them as females.


	30. Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations V

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Interlude: Conspiracy Revelations V  
**

 _Still from Tora's point of view._

* * *

 _Date:_ 03-08-2186

 _Location:_ Illium Minor, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

"I'm reasonably sure that the Pillars themselves were supporting you." The Executive's voice was cool, the dismissive tones enhanced by his crisp accent. "Because I am at a loss as to how you survived otherwise."

Beside me, Captain Feerin grimaced openly, her posture shifting to something utterly meek. I would have echoed the movement if not for the bandaging and medigel patches that cocooned my chest under my uniform, and settled for tipping my head to the left and down as far as it would go, averting even my upper set of eyes. As much of a Liberal as I was, I cared nothing for the man's religious title or supposed place as a highborn, standing in front of him when he was coldly furious...

It didn't feel like standing in front of a random human. It felt like a _Ha'diq_ from Khar'shan itself was contemplating how much effort he would need to expend in order to kill and replace me.

It had taken the _Wisp_ the better part of seven standard days to limp back to Omega, thanks to the helpful efforts of two Cerberus light cruisers that had tried to vaporize the corvette shortly after we'd departed the planet. Feerin had, barely, been able to keep most of the debris field between her ship and the attackers, letting the wreckage absorb the incoming fire, but more than a few hits had snuck through to hammer at her small vessel.

As the Executive had said, by some miracle we hadn't lost any souls... but we had lost the use of two of the ship's four engines, its GARDIAN emitter had been turned into so much scrap, both of the men on that station were being medically retired with severe burns and lost limbs, and nine more of the small crew were still recovering from their various wounds.

My own team wasn't in much better shape. Myself, shot twice in the chest and requiring heavy amounts of surgery to repair that lung and the rib cage on that side. I was currently upright only thanks to copious amounts of medication and a cane I was trying not to lean on. Calius had taken two shots of his own, and had some kind of odd, band-like material holding his shattered chest-plating together while they re-fused. He admitted that it was an agonizing process, but not as debilitating as my own injuries.

Victoria had been the worst, having her guts opened up by the shots that she'd taken, as well as having her spine nicked by one of the rounds. The ship's doctor had stabilized her and kept the wound from turning septic until we'd gotten back to Omega, where she'd undergone more specialized surgery to repair her back. In contrast, Cellesariel was the best off, merely suffering from acute biotic exhaustion and some minor nerve damage that had already begun to naturally regenerate. He was on light duty with a biotic nullifier wrapped around one wrist to ensure he didn't accidentally cause more damage to himself.

"At least you both seem to be aware of that." The human continued, a pale hand rising to drum a slow beat across the top of his wooden desk. "Captain ul Feerin."

The woman beside me swallowed. "Yes, honored Reyja'krem."

"Defend your action to proceed with the mission despite not having a clear picture of the system."

I heard her suck in a slow breath, "Yes, honored Reyja'krem. Upon our arrival to the system, we detected no active engine plumes or sensor systems. Further, the four remaining satellites did not pick up any vessels. Given the lack, I decided to cautiously proceed with the assignment. I ordered the Marine Leader to operate under radio silence to minimize the chances of his detection, and ensured that his pilot had the same FTL fall back point as our vessel."

Fingers continued to tap across the expensive material. "Would you alter that decision now?"

A heavy swallow. "I... no, honored Reyja'krem. I believe it was still a legitimate decision based on the information I had at the time."

The Executive seemed to consider that for several long moments, then spoke again. "Presume that I agree that it was a valid risk, tell me why I'm tempted to have Joa put you in command of a cargo shuttle instead of a valuable warship."

Feerin let out a quiet, keening sound of real pain, but managed to get the words out. "When... we picked up the Cerberus vessels exiting FTL, I should have retreated out system instead of moving into the debris field to wait for the away team. Their shuttle had FTL capability, they could have evaded on their own."

"Instead you got greedy." His voice remained cold. "And tried to pull a remote data dump from a destroyed ship while avoiding attention. I suppose your partial success means you aren't _entirely_ without skill, though I'm sure that Cerberus's usual arrogant idiocy also played a key role."

I felt the Captain flinch again, though she kept her mouth shut.

"Marine Leader ul Holt." My mouth went a little dry as the owner of the dismissive voice shifted his attention. "Your own problems began after the shuttle detected Cerberus radio chatter. Tell me what you did wrong."

"Executive." I made the mistake of glancing up with my upper eyes, and found two pale-green orbs staring directly into my own. I'd heard that he had an intense glare for a human, but in that moment... I shuddered and quickly lowered my eyes. "My... first mistake was departing the primary zone with my full team. I should have sent only Cellesariel or Victoria to recon and confirm our visitors while the remainder of my team assisted gathering evidence or preparing a better ambush."

There was a quiet, humming sound. "Continue."

"My second was in sending away Joten and our cache of explosives, preventing us from using them to cover our retreat or protect our flanks." I swallowed, remembering the constant replays of the battle in my head while I'd lain in my bunk. "And then I became over fixated on returning to the militia bunker, hoping to draw them farther away from our shuttle, instead of simply moving into a colonial tower. We could have airlifted from the roof and much more easily held the enemy at bay. It would have still forced them to deal with us thanks to our sharpshooter, and their lack of one."

For a few long moments, the drumming fingers stopped, then he let out an almost amused breath. "It would seem that _you_ are also not entirely an idiot, at least when you've had a week to consider your failures."

I flinched a little, and heard Feerin shift as she did the same.

More silence followed, the Executive evidently not afraid to use it as a weapon, letting us stand with our heads bowed, letting our fear of what his decision would be rise.

"Your total haul." His voice remained cool. "Several dead pirates, sold to Aria who is currently examining them to evaluate Geth weapon damage. Several destroyed Geth, also given to the Queen to corroborate Council reports on their capabilities. Pieces of at least fourteen Collector insect cyborgs, possibly part of the technology that lets them overrun colonies so quickly. Data logs from both the surface and the warship tracking the engagement, and giving us a rudimentary idea as to what happened. I suppose, in that sense, you were both far more successful than could have been expected."

If he'd said that in any other tone of voice, I would have considered that to be good news. As it was, I merely forced myself to nod while still looking at his desk.

"To that end..." He continued when neither of us was so stupid as to speak up. "Your crew and marines will be receiving combat bonuses, given one month of leave, and your vessel marked as having completed a successful operation. The leave does not extend to the two of you."

His chair shifted as he stood up, his tones not changing in the slightest. "Captain Feerin, while I _did_ order you to be cautious and to not risk your vessel, your initial decision to proceed with your assignment is not one that I can fault given the information you had at the time. However, your follow-up decision to not jump out system upon the arrival of two light cruisers _should_ have cost you your ship. While the _Will'o'wisp_ is being repaired, you will be transferred to the _Headsman,_ where Captain T'Voth is going to run you through a crash training course to pound everything you apparently forgot about threat evaluation into your skull. If she believes you're still competent at the end of that, you will be allowed to remain your ship's Captain. If she does not, you will remain on the _Headsman_ as third officer."

"I understand," Feerin murmured, bowing low at the waist and keeping her head tilted hard to the left. "Honored Reyja'krem. I will not disappoint you again."

"Marine Leader ul Holt." The Executive continued, as if she hadn't spoken at all. "Your direct military skill seems adequate for your rank, and I suppose I can't fault your determination either. Your ability to make intelligent snap decisions was decidedly inadequate, with your own saving grace being that you realized it in the aftermath. While your team is on leave, you will be transferred to the Fifth regiment to undergo officer's training once again, including four full days with Asi and his band of ancient maniacs. Assuming you pass, and survive, you will also be allowed to return to the _Wisp._ Failure will see you transferred to either the Fourth or Fifth regiments and demoted to half-squad leader."

I swallowed and bowed as best as my injuries would allow. "I understand sir."

"Good." A slight clatter of metal made me glance up with my upper eyes, blinking them as I saw a pair of small objects at the edge of his desk. Each was a tiny rectangle, white with harsh blue lines crossing over a black hexagon. "Novgorod campaign markers, to be worn beneath the corporate insignia on your uniform. More will be sent to the ship, give them to the crew before they go on leave."

"Yes, Honored Reyja'krem." The Captain replied obediently, stepping forwards and taking both of them.

"You will both be due at your new assignments at first shift tomorrow." The Executive settled back into his chair, tipping his head slightly to the right as he bowed it. "Dismissed."

We both bowed again, returning his salute, then turned and fled with as much dignity as we could dredge up. A Lancer was waiting in the small lounge outside of his office, a stately Turian who shook his head in bemusement before heading into the room that we had just left. As much as I wanted to take in the den where the corporate elite lived and relaxed, it was more than past time to leave, and I followed Feerin's smaller frame into the elevator.

"Well..." She murmured quietly as the doors clicked shut, a flick of her finger sending us dropping down. "That could have gone far worse."

"Agreed." I exhaled between my teeth, wincing a little at an ache in my chest. The full bow at the end had been a mistake. "Giving us a chance to prove we can handle the power given to us is... more than I expected."

"Yes." For a brief moment her posture fell apart, her shoulders slumping as she hung her head, a bone deep weariness that vanished as she got control of herself. "Sacred Pillars... I need a drink. Or five."

I grunted quietly, agreeing with the sentiment. "I had thought the stories were more apocryphal than anything, but standing there... it was easy to believe that he has killed Krogan battlemasters."

"Yes." She repeated, "His command of highborn posturing was... intimidating. I had thought you would be less effected due to your outlook, but it seems some things are simply ingrained."

That drew a grimace and an uncomfortable shift from me. Disdaining the notion of our people's societal rankings was one thing in verbal discourse or just in my head, but standing in front of an angry highborn was evidently something else entirely. And she was entirely correct, the human's positioning had been as close to perfect as a member of his species could manage.

"One month." Feerin continued, whistling air coming between her teeth as the lift reached the ground floor of the command center. "To prove our worth once again. Do me a favor, Tora? Don't fail. Calius is solid but I don't know if he'll be given command, or if they'll rotate someone new in."

I let out a proud snort as we stepped out, my awkward self-realization being brushed aside as I focused on what was more important. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Creating a working relationship with a new Captain would irritating so soon after having to go through more training."

She tilted her head to show bemusement as we walked. "We have fourteen hours before we're due for our training regimens. We will return to the ship and inform them of leave, though I believe we can leave our personal circumstances out of the announcement."

"Agreed." I dipped my head slightly, the pair of us threading our way through the bustling hub, heading back to her ship... and _my_ squad.

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Internal Report**_

 _Subject: Captain Heasa ul Feerin_

 _Reviewer: Senior Captain Jun T'Voth, SBS Headsman; SL TF 2_

 _In my opinion, the girl can have her ship back, with a few caveats. She's a skilled ship driver and has an instinctive grasp of three dimensional tactics, and my interviews with her bridge crew reveal nothing but respect for her. If she's got an issue it's that she's a little too bold and can forget that she's only driving a corvette instead of a cruiser. Give her the Will'o'wisp back, but keep her off independent assignments. Joa or I can run her through more training drills once they're on station again._

 _If I can make a recommendation; since you paid that Volus group to haul that Geth and pirate wreckage to our docks, and since we're fixing up that Asari cruiser, I'd have her tagged as a first officer once it gets done. Her skills will be of more use on the larger ship and it's a technical promotion so it won't sting her Batarian pride._

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Internal Report**_

 _Subject: Marine Leader Tora ul Holt_

 _Reviewer: Senior Captain (provisional) Raush ul Certis, Fifth Omega Regiment_

 _Honored Reyja'krem, ul Holt has completed his remedial officer's training, and in my opinion he has successfully passed. His failures were largely those of negligence and inexperience, both of which the training courses have worked to remedy. During training scenarios he exhibited a far greater awareness of alternative options, and Asi had grudgingly admitted that Holt never makes the same mistake twice._

 _I would recommend he be allowed to remain as Marine Leader on the Will'o'wisp without any harsh remarks on his record. If he proves capable of leading said team for several months, I could consider transferring them to Senior Captain ul Thui's light-response test program (assuming that you approve of said concept)._

* * *

 _ **End Interlude**_

 _And there we go. Nice, fast little interlude section, providing a few hints about what is going on with the Collectors, Geth, and Cerberus, and a small bit of insight into the workings of the Silver Blades beyond just Cieran and the upper crust. Next chapter will take place about two months after this, with another Collector attack seeing the Blades preparing to put a plan of their own into motion._

 _Next release is likely to be a TWF chapter; Erana noting down the silver blades organizational chart as they continue to expand, with notes on areas that they need to flesh out along with Cieran's replies._

 _I have also begun updating the TvTropes page a bit, pulling in recommendations from reviews and from the forums. If you have any ideas or concepts you would like to see there, either for the series in general or any tropes that the characters seem to embody, please let me know and I will be happy to add them/discuss it with you. I also got around to finishing up my outline of the Reliant/Headsman's class of Batarian cruiser, that's up on my deviant page._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	31. Act 3-6: Changes and Plans

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act III: The Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Changes and Plans**

 _Date:_ 05-08-2186

 _Location:_ Silver Blades Command Center, Illium Minor, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

I woke up with a start, blinking rapidly in the dark of the bedroom as I tried to figure out what had jerked me out of sleep. The quiet sound of the door shutting, and the absence of a fusion reactor behind me, answered that question easily enough.

Sighing, I grimaced and sat up, shaking my head a little as I tried to finish waking up. The cold bite of the suite's air helped with that, since the only thing I was wearing was a pair of shorts. I exhaled a little, enjoying the temperature, and the fact that it was one of the few arguments I'd won with Voya. She couldn't exactly deny simple biology, and the sad fact was that I wouldn't get any sleep if the bedroom _wasn't_ kept at a low temperature.

Pushing myself to my feet, I padded across the room by memory, pushing the door open and exiting into the small living room. It was modestly sized, considering my position, and filled with the usual assortment of comfortable Asari furniture. The only real luxury was the floor to ceiling window occupying the outer wall, three layers of armored glass along with shield pylons that were separate from the building's main barrier network.

But hey, it gave me a great view of Omega's core.

Voya was already sitting on the couch facing the window, wearing a dark shirt and shorts, her head shifting a little as she heard me approach.

"You." I offered quietly, "Were supposed to wake me up, Miss Chi."

She twitched a shoulder, shifting a little to give me space to sit beside her. "You never try to wake me either."

"And you always hit me for doing so." I pointed out as I carefully climbed onto the soft couch, leaning back and lifting my right arm so she had room to lean into my side if she wished. "Which one tonight?"

A soft sound came out of her as she did so, her head resting on my shoulder, but she didn't say anything. I let out a slow breath, adjusting my body a bit to get comfortable and simply holding onto her. A good ten minutes or so passed, the pair of us just watching the air traffic, before she sighed and shook her head in a quick, irritable gesture.

"The mines again." She offered quietly.

I grimaced, the hand I'd wrapped around her shoulder pulling her a little closer. For once she didn't object, simply letting her weight sag a little more. It must have been even more unpleasant than normal, normally she liked to keep a bit of space between us even if I was holding her. "Usual ending?"

"No." The words were almost a groan, "That's routine enough I can be annoyed by it. This one... it was that Asari bitch. Killed Shyeel and Illyan, then dragged me down the pipe to make me watch as that thing tore at you."

"Oh." I offered quietly. I'd had a few variations of that one before, my brain always so helpful in imagining just what the Banshee could have done to us if it had actually been serious. Voya's tended to center around the Stalker more than the corrupted Asari, with the emaciated Drell killing the rest of us in a variety of ways, and then leaving her to starve to death in the darkness.

Still, nightmares were becoming thankfully rarer for the both of us, since we'd resumed sleeping in the same bed together. Night terrors bad enough to warrant awakening either of us were down to every other week or so. That wasn't to say that we slept _well_ the rest of the time, but for the first time in the goddess knew how long I was routinely getting a steady six hours of sleep.

"Did you want to get dressed, go spar?"

There was a heavy breath through her nose, as if she was contemplating saying yes, but she shook her head as she let it out. "I would rather talk tonight."

One of my eyebrows went up. Voya's typical response to nightmares was to either let me hold onto her while she fell back asleep, or to go downstairs with me and spar until she was barely able to walk. "..you would?"

Voya pointedly reminded me that her fingers ended in tiny claws, and that I wasn't wearing a shirt. Her voice became waspish as she spoke over my quiet hiss of pain, "Yes. I would."

"All right." I quickly reached up and pulled her hand away from my chest, wincing a little at the scratches that she'd left. "Was there something in particular?"

She let me move her limb, glowing eyes flicking back to the skyline as her thin lips pursed a little. "As... much as I don't want to, we should discuss us."

"Voya..."

"No." Her chest heaved a little, "That first night, when we decided to do this, you told me I knew everything there was to know about you... and that I'd never told you much back. _Keelah,_ you've given me almost three months since then, still not pushing, even when I avoided answering things you asked me."

I glanced sideways at her, "And you mind?"

"Of course not." She shook her head, the skin around her eyes darkening slightly. "I'm already not giving you sex, it's not exactly fair that I don't tell you anything either. After... our first date, you asked me two questions."

"Yeah." I nodded cautiously, thoroughly strangling the stupid part of my brain that instantly had gotten hopeful at the word sex, and instead focusing on remembering what I'd asked. "I asked if you being a trophy taker would make us even more complicated."

Voya glanced up at me, "Right... that. And the other was-"

I cut her off gently, "Let's just start with one."

She winced, but nodded, turning away and falling silent again. Her body shifted as she took a few long breaths, as if working her way up to something, then abruptly shook her head and started speaking. "I'm... going to tell you about a lot of things that my people don't normally talk about. That's going to be a little awkward for me, and I would really, really rather you kept it to yourself."

I nodded slowly. "Ghai will know, can't really stop that, but that will be it."

Voya nodded. "Thank you... right, my position. There's going to be some issues, yes, but less because of what you've done."

"Because I'm a warlord?" I guessed.

There was a snort. "No, my people don't care about alien titles. What you've done, who you've killed, who you've defied. Killing two Krogan Battlemasters will have earned you a lot of personal respect, never-mind the berserkers that you also put down. Five?"

I let my head roll back a little, consulting my greybox. "Solo? Two, both non-biotic. Team wide I contributed for... yeah, five more, plus that one with Nara on Redcliffe."

Her right hand waved in a 'there-you-go' fashion. "That will help. I doubt anyone would confront us openly, but..."

"Confront?" I blinked.

Voya's shoulders tightened as she let out a growling sound. "Not including the inbred, there's only sixmillion of my people alive Cie. And most of them don't exactly like aliens who aren't named Yan T'Ravt."

"Oh, right." I winced a little. "Sorry."

She shrugged a little, forcing herself to relax. "It's fine. Cultural situations aren't things you're used to dealing with, or thinking about. Too used to being the only one of your species around and just accepting Batarian and Asari crap."

Exhaling, I could only nod as she took in a couple more breaths before resuming, "I... told you before, Trophy Takers have celebrity status in the District. Seeing me with a human, _with_ a human, is going to cause some issues. _Keelah_ , practically every young teenager's dream is to seduce a Taker and carry their child, or beget one onto them."

I lifted an eyebrow, focusing on the more amusing piece of information. "You're saying you have young, male fans who are going to be jealous? If I shoot them, should I aim to wound or-"

A long groan proceeded a light punch to my sternum. " _Bosh'tet_. I'm saying... idiots are going to imply things that I might actually have to respond to. Other Takers, especially, since they'll think they have the standing to make me listen to the crap they're vomiting up. At the very least a few Elders are probably going to try and demand I artificially induce something if I refuse to leave you."

Right... the part of being a Quarian I'd never really wanted to think about. The pressure to have children had an entirely new meaning when your species entire population could fit into a suburb of Nos Astra and still have empty buildings leftover. And if Trophy Takers were celebrities of some kind, there would be even more pressure on Voya to conform and be a proper example. In that way she was actually kind of similar to Tali, now that I thought about it... though saying that would probably see her try and rip my throat open, so I kept it to myself.

"Did Deshi give you any issues when you were training Terro's team?" I asked instead.

"No." Her head shook. "Just a polite reminder, when I was with Shyeel, about what would eventually be asked of me. I told him I knew and to shut his mouth and get back to work."

A very faint smile crossed my lips.

"Others won't be that polite... and I probably shouldn't kill them either." She growled, reaching up to rub at her face. "Even beating them senseless will have to be done carefully... still, your kills at least show your own worth, so I doubt the High Elder will bother to get involved. But-"

I held a hand up, "Voya... you're losing me."

My girlfriend turned to frown at me, then let out an annoyed sound that seemed to be directed at herself. "The Elders of each _Vhaka_ normally have the authority to check in on females, make sure we carry at least two children before we're too old, but Trophy Takers are exempt from that. We usually don't have children until we become elders ourselves, that's why we mostly retire young. Only the High Elder can actually order us to do otherwise, but that hasn't happened since T'Ravt destroyed the outer wall. Hasn't been an absolute need."

"But he could." I mused.

"He could." She sighed, "It's stupid, but old laws, old traditions are... important to us."

Sighing in turn, I brought my left hand up and rubbed at my hair. This wasn't where I'd thought this conversation would go, but I couldn't exactly fault her for dwelling on it. "What does he usually do?"

Voya shrugged. "Normally he just sends out routine alerts, telling us where slavers might have taken our people, where specific targets might be, that kind of thing, then lets us coordinate who is going to go deal with it."

I nodded slowly, "Has he sent you anything?"

She shook her head, "I spoke with him when Shyeel and I were on Xentha, he approves of my place here... I think he rather likes you, actually. From that aspect there won't be any issues because of my title, so long as I agree to..." Her expression abruptly became nauseated, "...reproduce... sometime in the future, he'll keep Elder Fehi'chi off my back. _Keelah_... it's sad, I'm actually happy for the Leviathans and Reapers, if just because that war is going to delay that."

"Can't... really blame you." I admitted, trying and failing not to shudder at the idea of what Voya would be like if she was pregnant. Or what her kid would be like... or what her child would be like if _I_ was still around to help raise it. "I'm guessing that's not really a choice?"

"Not unless I want to exile myself, lose my title, and never be welcome on Xentha again." Voya shook her head. "I'm... that's something we can deal with after, Cie."

"Yeah." I blew out a breath, closing my eyes before letting my head fall back against the couch. Goddess but that wasn't something I'd wanted to hear. I had enough problems trying to make up my mind about the child I already had, and whose life I'd been barred from, without trying to think about helping Voya raise another.

Of course, that was assuming that I even survived that long. The odds weren't exactly in my favor, even without factoring in the eldritch abominations bearing down on the galaxy. "So... Takers?"

Another small shrug, "More or less as you have assumed. First of us to figure out how to cut out our slave implants and fight back against Hakar took trophies as proof, to give the others hope. Time passed, things codified, traditions, expectations. There's quite a few of us, but I'm... in a minority. Most Takers only head out after one or two targets, then come home and join the wall's guard."

"Ah." I nodded slowly. "That's why the others I've seen all have fewer trophies than you?"

She nodded back, "Yes. Each _Vhaka_ is expected to have one. Two are allowed, if one is about to retire to be an Elder, that means there's... two or three thousand of us, all told, but maybe only a hundred actually making full time hunting a career. The rest are in T'Ravt's army, or in the guard like I said. Either helping train them or working with the High Elder to track down slavers or other targets. Resources or equipment that we need and can't afford to pay T'Ravt for, mostly."

Mulling over that, I asked another question, "And the more impressive trophies you have, the more social currency?"

"Basically." Voya shrugged again, "Takers who are impressive are paid to endorse businesses, receive salary for training the guard once and a while, and have their choice of mates. Most pick out a relatively wealthy family and marry into it so they don't have to worry about working."

I snorted. "Was that your plan?"

She had the good grace to flush a little, the skin around her eyes darkening as she quickly looked away from me. "I... yes. Before Omega... there was a family heir that flirted with me, and I... and that is all the details you're getting."

That drew a grin and a small laugh. "All right. Going back a bit, what does _Vhaka_ mean? Family? Community?"

"Clan." She corrected, then seemed to frown. "Also... something like a village... or maybe a region? It doesn't translate well, but I'm the Taker of _Vhaka Chi-Shid-Kol._ The three are the biggest families living in the _Vhaka."_

I lifted an eyebrow, "You have more family than Haro?"

"Technically." Her lips twisted in displeasure. "Besides the two _keshin_ that he killed for betraying me, I have five other first cousins who are still alive, two uncles who I hate, their mates who I loathe, another pair who are tolerable, and a single aunt who is still alive and in T'Ravt's military. She assisted me through my Calling, she was usually the one I visited when you were recovering. Ancestors alone know how many more people removed beyond that, but I don't keep track and ignore the messages they try and send."

"Just want a piece of the glory?"

"And my money." If anything, her expression grew even more annoyed. "After that stupid documentary went live on the extranet, everyone with my last name thinks that I'll give them credits if they ask or make their story depressing enough."

"Really wish that surprised me." I sighed, "If we hadn't been with you when we went into the District, you'd have been mobbed, wouldn't you?"

"I try to avoid my _Vhaka,_ yes." There was a long groan. "I still... don't like crowds."

"I know." I replied, my amusement fading as I felt her lean a little more into my side. Seeking to change the topic, I rewound again, going back to a term I'd heard before, but never really understood. "And the Calling? Is that something like the migrant pilgrimage?"

Voya actually flinched into my side, her breath sharpening. "No... yes... the Calling is... older, and very, _very_ private."

Wincing, I apologized quietly. Hair rustled as she shook her head, wordlessly telling me that it was fine, and that I hadn't known, and now that I did know, not to ever ask again unless she brought it up first. And to not expect her to bring it up.

"Want to move on from this subject?" I asked softly.

" _Keelah,_ yes." She nodded almost desperately, clearly having expended whatever energy had allowed her to talk about _anything_ related to her people to me. In a way it almost reminded me of Rane... how awkward and stilted she'd become whenever she'd stepped over the lines of propriety for a lowborn. Though I doubted that Rane had ever honestly contemplated killing everyone who criticized her actions, and I was pretty sure that I'd be hard pressed to hold Voya back the first time some young idiot said something about us being together.

"Bed." Voya continued, breaking me from my daydream of holding her by her arms while her legs flailed cartoon style. "Let's just... go back to bed."

I blinked, then glanced over at a small display set into one of the walls. We still had a good five hours before I actually needed to be awake, with my first meeting an hour past that. "All right."

She nodded, extracting herself from me and from the couch, then paused to yawn. I smiled a little at the sight, her long forked tongue emerging and curling even as her eyes closed. The light from the window made it easy to see her flush when she finished, quickly glancing away with a mutter about how I was a stupid _bosh'tet_.

My reply that she was cute when she yawned merely got me growled and glared at.

Thankfully her irritation didn't last beyond the bedroom door, the lower temperature making her shudder as we crawled back into bed. I found myself being clung to as we settled into place, one of her arms rapidly working at dragging more blankets on top of us.

"So cold." Voya muttered irritably, "You should have stayed in bed and kept it at least kind of warm."

I snorted quietly, "You could have just turned on the heating weave for the quilt."

"Or you could have." She growled, daintily clawed fingers trailing up and down one of my arms. "Now your skin is all... weird."

"Sure those just aren't the burns?" I asked, feeling her shift down to my forearms. "I have enough of them."

There was a quiet, contemplative noise as gentle touches moved across the various pieces of rippled skin. I didn't need the lights to know what she was feeling, lines and marks scattered up from my wrist to my elbow, the legacy of Justicar Helynna's mocking biotic imitation of my war gauntlets. Medigel had done wonders in the sense that my forearms weren't nauseating to look at, and I could still feel her claws and fingers, but I knew they still weren't exactly pretty to see.

"These two." Voya murmured as her hand slid up, touching two separate spots on my bicep in turn. "When we fought the Circle on Carastes... what was the other?"

"SIU on Omega." I reminded her, "Rane bandaged it while you and Jarick kept Illyan alive."

She exhaled softly, then actually shifted herself up onto an elbow, lifting the blankets enough that her glowing eyes could properly look over me as her free hand moved around, touching my various scars. A faded mark on my stomach, where Chacksin ul Shaaryak had nearly killed me. White lines up and down my left side, and the burns on that thigh hidden by my shorts, from where Captain Dougal _had_ killed me. Faded pieces of rippled skin on my right side, I'd been too close to Jacqueline when she'd lost her mind on Kirkwall. And there were plenty of tiny white flecks on my chest, a carnage round on Redcliffe shattering my chest plate enough that pieces of it had tried to break my ribs, joining more biotic burns across my torso and right shoulder from that goddess damned banshee.

"So many." She exhaled, letting her hand fall flat against my chest as she lowered herself back down.

"Yeah." I exhaled quietly as I felt her rest her head on my shoulder, her heat pressing a little closer. "That's not including everything that didn't leave a visible mark. Bone bruises, pulled muscles, the goddess alone knows how many concussions I've had at this point... or how I survived this long."

Three tiny pricks of pain appeared as her fingers pressed down. "Cieran, if you bring up your lifespan, I'm going to be annoyed."

I winced. "Voya... that's not a topic we can avoid forever."

"It _isn't_ a topic." She growled back at me, shifting her weight sharply and making me wince. "Because you aren't going to die in the next three years, or five years, or whatever Ghai said. We're going to fight those stupid space squids and kill them, then she's going to fix you, and then we're going to retire. One house on Illium, one on Xentha, we can move between them."

The idea of Voya retiring was almost amusing, if only because it would last a week or two at most before she went stir crazy in the absence of violence. "Voya-"

"Even if that bitch can't fix you in time," Her voice remained low as she continued, effortlessly speaking over me. "I'll haul your pale ass into a stasis pod with me until she can. And if you even _think_ about trying to martyr yourself to save me or anyone else, I will break both of your legs and then throw you into stasis even if the war is still ongoing. And when Ghai wakes us up, I'm going to break them _again_ just to make sure you got the bloody message."

"All right," I winced a little, "But-"

" _Keelah_." The word came out as a ragged exhalation, "What do I have to do to get you to shut up? We're both going to survive this stupid crap, we're going to tell everyone else to fuck off, and then we're going to make a home. And figure out what to do about everything else."

I tried to nod and make it clear that I was totally on board with whatever she was saying, "Agreed, could-"

The hand on my chest abruptly shot up and grabbed my hair near my scalp, making me gasp in startled pain as she hauled my head down and to the left, exposing the right side of my neck. A heartbeat later sharp teeth were biting at my skin, the Batarian part of my soul making me go limp on reflex as she informed me that I belonged to her. An eternity later, my body shuddered as she slowly pulled back, her forked tongue flicking across freshly bruised skin.

"Did that sink into your male skull?" Her voice wasn't like I'd ever heard it before. It was low, somewhere between husky and angry, like she wasn't sure if she wanted to have sex with me or kill me. "It better have. _Xentha mashan selai_ , Cieran. We're both going to survive."

"Yes." And my heart was moving a little too quickly, and I wanted her clothes out of the way... and I still really wanted her to shift her weight again because it was seriously hurting.

"Good." She mewled, moving herself fully on top of me, finally getting off of my right arm. I gasped immediately in relief, shaking the arm out to try and get some feeling back into it. The glowing eyes that were the only lights in the room blinked twice as she glanced down, and then I heard her let out a high pitched sound of utter embarrassment. "Oh _keelah..._ that's what... oh."

I couldn't help but let out a rasping laugh, my still functional left arm moving up and wrapping around her neck, feeling her stiff hair as I pulled her down into a soft kiss. "If it wasn't awkward, it wouldn't be us. You can keep telling me how important I am to you though."

Voya groaned, her hot lips pecking at mine. "You damned _bosh'tet_. I take everything I just said back, you can die in horrible agony while your brains drain out of your nose."

"You love me." I pointed out, shifting my head to the left and giving her neck a little tug.

"Don't remind me." She muttered back, brushing her cheek across my goatee before lowering her lips back to my neck. My body relaxed as she cautiously kissed and nipped at my flesh, taking care not to break my skin with her sharp little canines. Her own shifted as she worked, letting me feel her dense muscles as fingers wrapped around my wrists, holding both of my arms down.

Eventually she shifted back to kiss me, keeping me pinned as her tongue explored my mouth, her hips pressing hard against my thighs. She abruptly pulled back after a few minutes, clothing rustling, and she she leaned back down I could feel her bare chest against mine. The hair on her breasts was soft, as it was on her back as she finally let go of my hands, letting me run them down her body.

"How..." I swallowed as she broke away from me for air once again, leaning back and trailing tiny claws across my chest. "...far?"

"Touching... just touching tonight." She replied, her voice husky. "Is that all right?"

"Of course." I murmured. "Where?"

In response, she lowered herself again, then shifted upwards until her chest was above me, making it clear what my mouth would be doing. At the same time, one of her hands wrapped around one of mine, gently pulling it down until it slid beneath her shorts, her fingers pushing and shifting to tell me where and how to please her. I earned growls and muttered corrections when I did it incorrectly at first, and then breathy little mewls when I settled into a rhythm that she liked.

She rolled off of me with a weak groan after the second time, her hands almost desperately pushing mine away even as I prepared to work her towards a third. "That's... _keelah..._ two was... fine."

"You sure?" I asked bemusedly, rolling onto my side to face her, cleaning my hand off on the blankets. "I don't mind."

"Sensitive." She muttered, shifting forwards to rest her head against my chest. "Besides... your turn... Just... let me hold onto one of your wrists."

I opened my mouth to tell her that she didn't have to, that I enjoyed the way she'd whimpered and clutched my head to her chest, only to gasp quietly as her odd hands moved. One wrapped around my right hand, holding it tightly, while her other slid down to touch me through my shorts. A few moments later the shorts were out of the way, and her mouth was on my neck again, though she took care to be gentle with her lips. And, after a few winces from me, managed to avoid pricking anything important with her tiny claws.

The cleanup that followed after I had reached my own climax was even more awkward than I expected, thanks to the dark color of her... release, nearly making me think that I'd done something horribly wrong before she'd flushed and told me that that was just how it was. Her own complaints about mine as she tried to wash her hands didn't really help, neither of us really sure how to act in the wake of our first small experience.

Still... she left her shirt off when we returned to bed, and allowed me to hold onto her as we finally returned to sleep.

Waking up wasn't nearly as pleasant as falling asleep with a topless Voya next to me, especially because I was freezing. She'd evidently tolerated me touching her only until we'd fallen asleep, then had promptly shoved me against the wall while cocooning herself in the blankets. The right side of my neck felt like it had been repeatedly punched by Illyan, an impression reinforced when I made it to the bathroom and saw the bruising she'd left.

Voya had groaned as she'd inspected it, once I'd gathered up enough courage to wake her up and avoid the punch she threw at me for disturbing her. She'd promptly picked out one of my more formal uniforms to wear, one of the few with a collar high enough to hide it all. Trading turns in the shower, we were in the middle of breakfast when Erana quietly slipped into the suite a half hour early.

"Morning Erana." I offered as I put my usual breakfast of cold cuts and bread together, glancing up as she came in. "You're early... there a crisis?"

"There's always a crisis sir." She replied, covering a yawn as she took a seat next to Voya at the kitchen table. "Your meeting this morning will have a new agenda, there was another Collector raid last night."

An annoyed sound rolled out of me, "When, and why didn't this come in on the emergency line?"

"Miss Ghai said she had it handled, and to let you sleep." She quickly spread her hands, "I only found out this morning, but she said the _Fireball_ is already picking up our satellites, and that there wasn't anything extra you had to do."

I grunted noncommittally, throwing extra food onto a plate for the maiden before carrying them both over. "What colony?"

"Yunnan." She supplied, murmuring a quiet thanks for the food.

"Another mid sized one." Voya exhaled, having already eaten her own food. "Think they had Geth with again?"

"I'd assume they at least had them scout it out first." I replied before falling silent, eating as quickly as I could. Ten minutes later we were done, plummeting down to the third floor and the large room that we'd marked for the rare private senior staff meeting. While I wouldn't consider Aria a role model for anything, I did approve of the amphitheater she enjoyed using to brief her subordinate warlords. As a result we'd created a small version for ourselves, with three tiers of seating all facing a massive holographic display.

As usual, I was the first to actually show up, heading up to the front with Erana to start getting everything setup while Voya amused herself by pinging everyone and telling them to show the fuck up.

Our newest Senior Captains showed up first, both of them having been picked only in the last month to command the still forming Fifth and Sixth regiments. Ethar ul Raul gave me a quick bow that I returned as he entered, while Raik Keshanna merely dipped her massive head. The first was a middle aged, tan skinned, midcaste exile, and the former leader of a small Traditionalist pirate band that had only raided Hegemony colonies ruled by conservatives. The latter was yet another member of the Raik clan, her smooth crest a striking black and red. She'd easily passed our officer's crash training, and had done so while also helping four other people who might have otherwise failed.

The pair had just settled into their chairs when Nel B'Mara arrived, the matron visibly relaxing as she realized that she wasn't late, and making me wonder exactly what Voya had messaged them. Three more Asari came in after that, Trena, Ghai, and Jun T'Voth all showing up at the same time and deep in conversation with one another. That just left Ven, who bustled in tiredly after them, the Administrator carrying a plate with his own breakfast on it, though he managed to shut the door behind him at a motion from Voya.

I frowned, glancing at her. "Shyeel and Illyan?"

"Setting up a training run for Jacqueline and Vessian." She provided, "Shyeel says you can tell her over lunch."

Sighing, I rolled my eyes and flicked the projector to life. "Right, let's get this going. Ghai? Update me on Yunnan."

My second in command rolled a shoulder, reclining slightly in the chair she'd picked before waving a hand to Trena. Her bondmate groaned but dutifully started speaking, "About what you'd expect ape. Ul Ghren reported picking up our tracking shit, was about to approach the colony when a Cerberus ship showed up. He lit out rather than engage, so no idea if there was any actual fighting on the surface this time. _Fireball_ is on its way back."

I grunted in approval. "That makes five colonies in total. Jun? You said you had a potential pattern for us last week, this data point help?"

The Captain of the _Headsman_ nodded, rising from her seat and walking down to join me. Stepping aside, I gave her control of the display, and she wasted little time bringing up a rough map of the coreward Traverse.

"The first attack that we know of occurred here, New Giza." She lifted a hand and indicated a system, the color turning red as she did. "That was in December. One month later, they hit That Place, here. The month after that was Novgorod, in this cluster. After that they didn't attack anyone in the next month, possibly due to the unexpected issues they hit at their last target. Early last month they resumed, attacking Attu, and now we can add Yunnan."

There was a deep rumble as Raik Keshanna raised her voice, the Krogan tilting her head a little as she regarded the display. "We have a month until their next attack by that pattern. That gives us when but not where."

"We might have a where as well." Jun exhaled, dimming all but three of the dots of light. "Each colony they hit had a few things in common. They were at least six hours average travel from a relay, they had been attacked by raiders within two months of the attack, and none of them had serious operations in the system beyond the colony. These three fit that pattern."

I glanced at the names as everyone did, though it was Trena who spoke them aloud. "Sudeten, Hainan, and New Jamestown."

"They are the last minor colonies fitting the pattern." Jun exhaled, "If we assume they are hit in sequence, the Collectors will likely take another pause before moving on to larger targets. My bridge staff helped crunch the data, we think either Ferris Fields, New Canton, or Freedom's Progress will be hit after that, given that they are the largest colonies not in a relay system."

I did some mental math. Shepard had died in January of Eighty-Five, if the Collectors hit those three, took a month off to re-orient for larger targets, and then hit Freedom's Progress... that would be in the right timeframe, just under two years. Assuming whatever crap that had let the Matriarch peer into the future was still accurate given the various interfering factors.

"If I may, Honored Reyja'krem." Ethar spoke up quietly, his head tilting to the left. "It would seem we have a choice to make."

Tilting my own in bemusement, I waved for him to continue.

"If we wait until the October attack, we will have a one in three chance that we will be attacked at New Canton." He folded his hands before him, his lower eyes on me while his upper set examined the display. "Increasing by month after. By that point my own regiments, and Keshanna's, will be ready, and Nel's Fourth will be fully dug in and prepared. We may even have more warships available, along with Xenthan regiments."

I lifted an eyebrow, "Your tone makes it clear that you don't quite like that idea."

He winced a little, his posture showing apology. "I... do not. By then the situation could have changed further, the pattern could shift, and we could be caught badly off guard when an attack comes against one of the colonies who pay us. The Pillar of Power speaks of bold action in war, I would rather we strike preemptively and remove them as a threat. Then we could focus on Cerberus."

That drew a grimace from me. My prediction that it would become a shooting war between us and Cerberus after the fight at Carastes, and at Novgorod, had more or less come to pass. A cell operation on New Canton had been caught trying to plant bombs in the hotel we still used as a headquarters there. That had briefly made things tense on world until the locals had formed up a hunting posse and caught two more Cerberus agents trying to get off world, giving them to Nel's people to execute.

The situation on Nagato was similar, though the colony's substantial Turian minority had evidently stopped Cerberus from ever making much of an inroad, and the Corsairs were likewise unwelcome there. Senior Captain Vesik B'Nor had been nothing but complimentary of the locals on my last inspection tour, and I'd been suitably impressed after meeting the Turian who'd just won the recent election.

In comparison, Horizon was rapidly becoming a mess. Three lone shooters had destabilized our relationship with the militia and cost us seven lives, a situation made worse when the _Parry Cut_ had been heavily damaged by an unauthorized 'test fire' of the colony's GARDIAN towers. The Prime Ministers' subsequent failure to even bring the perpetrators to trial had seen Nara throw the militia out of our new base entirely and close all of our compounds to locals. Our people didn't even take leave on world anymore, instead being given longer passes and rides back to Omega to relax here.

Matheau was predictably losing his goddess-damned mind, and had demanded that I come and meet with him personally. I had sent him an ultimatum of my own yesterday, and authorized Nara to put both of her regiments on combat-alert. Horizon had until next week, the end of our contract, to turn over the men who'd fired on our ship, and to cede control of the GARDIAN towers inside of New Progress to my people to prevent any more incidents. Until either happened, all of our arms shipments to supply their militia would cease, all training operations would end, and we could consider any major militia movement to be a hostile act.

Failure to comply would see us cancel the contract renewal, and accept one with the Turian-Batarian colony at Cear'tol instead. I didn't _want_ to abandon the colony to its future fate... but I wasn't just going to sit around let Cerberus kill my people or drag us into a war with a colony either.

"I can agree with the sentiment." Nel mused, "But there remains an issue. With three colonies under threat, we still only have a one in three chance of picking the correct location. I don't believe it wise to divide our forces either."

"No." Jun agreed, "Sudeten and Hainan are in the same stellar cluster, and only four hours apart. If we gathered the fleet here in this dead system, IL-756, we would be two hours from either. We could tell the _Ha'diq_ that Aria assigned to support us to gather near New Jamestown."

Keshanna grunted loudly, "What about ground troops? My kids won't be ready, neither will Ethar's. We'd have to pull the big guns out of Horizon early, but that might not be a bad idea."

Ven grimaced, looking physically pained, "Breaking our contract early will hurt our rating, especially since the Citadel's mercenary commission only approved our license at a Spectre's order."

There was a scoff from Trena, "Won't hurt on Illium, we'll be pulling out a week early and with good fucking reasons. Shaaryak's bitchy lawyers can handle it. And the Citadel won't revoke us, not with Severa helping us spear those Cerberus fucks. She got us the license, she'll make sure we keep it once we explain it to her. I say we fucking do it ape."

It was my turn to grimace at the idea, though I couldn't deny that I had already considered pulling out early just to throw off any chance of someone trying something if they knew when we would be extracting our people. "Ghai? Nel?"

"Horizon." Ghai shook her head, "Corrupt, unusual... getting paranoid. War. We leave."

Nel winced, then seemed to reluctantly nod. "I... agree sir. If we stay the next two weeks, I think someone's going to try and draw us into a shooting war on that world. Maybe even draw the Alliance against us, if they frame us as starting things. Better to leave."

That made it unanimous, save for those Senior Captains who weren't here. Vesik would be for the withdrawal, as would Nara... though Joa would probably want to bombard the place just to make a statement on the way out.

"Disagreeing when all of my senior staff agrees on something seems idiotic." I exhaled through my teeth, "Erana, send messages to Joa and Nara, our best encryption. They are to begin an immediate evacuation from Horizon based on plan two, authorization for four if they're fired upon. Jun? Take the _Headsman, Noln,_ and the _Wisp_ to support. Bring both units back here for a week of leave and tune-up the ships, then we'll move out."

The Captain in question nodded, then bowed. I replied in kind, and she quickly got moving, already muttering orders into her omni-tool for her XO to send out the recall alert to the crews.

"Ethara, Keshanna. Get back to your people and ramp up training." I glanced between them. "I don't expect your full teams, but even a couple of combat ready platoons would be helpful. Ghai? Tell your staff they're getting overtime and spend as much time as you can helping with that. Trena, Ven, please remain, we have to work out how we're going to talk with these colonies."

Bows and nods preceded the majority of people getting up and moving, Erana quickly running after Jun to phrase the message properly while the others left at a more sedate pace. Then it was just Voya, Ven, and Trena, and I sighed as I walked down to drop into the chair in between the latter two, while Voya elected to start lazily pacing back and forth.

"Two problems." I exhaled, letting my head roll back. "First, how are the Collectors getting the intel on their targets, and how do we avoid revealing the fact that we're putting troops in place to fight them. Second, how do we get colonists, who won't have any reason to trust us, to accept us dropping a thousand plus soldiers on top of them."

Trena frowned at me, her hands pulling her pipe out from a pocket, "Thought we figured it was the Geth doing that shit."

"Yeah, but how?" I asked. "They just reading the extranet traffic? We can avoid that easily, just have a corvette lock down the systems' FTL buoys. A recon ship might be a bigger issue."

"Not sure we have a bloody choice ape." She pointed out, the scent of chehala leaves tickling my nose as she ignited them. "Have to take risks sooner or later... and Ethar's got a goddess-damned point. If we can at least fuck up the bugs a bit, we can buy some time to consolidate and see if we can't deal with Cerberus."

"Right." A hand reached up to rub at my forehead. I didn't like taking risks with my people, but... dammit. "We'll secure the buoys and put in gates to stop news of us from getting out and hope that's enough. Ven?"

The Batarian male sighed, his omni-tool shutting down from where he'd been reading. "I don't know, Honored Reyja'krem. Both colonies are isolationist, very small, and all human, except for a few Asari who might be there with their bondmates. They don't have the cash to officially hire even a platoon, so we'll be doing this from our own funds. We can make that up with the Cear'tol contract at least."

I waved my left hand dismissively, "I'm more worried about having to kill half the colonists before we have to try and fight to save them."

He rolled a shoulder and dipped his head apologetically, "I'm sorry sir, but I don't think they'll be willing to talk with us. They evade pirates and slavers by living near the Salarian Union rather than by martial or economic prowess. We'll likely have to simply tell them why we're there and trust they aren't stupid enough to attack us."

Voya spoke up as I groaned at the very idea, her tones those of forced optimism. "Look on the bright side, Cieran. Once we deal with the bugs, we'll have plenty of tech to play with. I'm sure Aria will buy most of it, maybe we could send other pieces to Illium."

"Both are ideas." Trena muttered around her pipe. "Shit will make us look good for New Canton and Nagato. Maybe those crazies on Pskov will talk with us when we pull it off, give us a place to ship the fifth or sixth regiment."

"Could work." I agreed, still thinking things over. "Right. Scales, I want your Lancer team on the _Reliant_ , along with whatever units Ghai passes. They and the marines will be the reinforcements for whichever colony is under attack, you'll be in command of them."

She grunted. "What about you? Staying here again?"

I glanced at Voya, who rolled a shoulder, and shook my head. "No, we'll be with as well, probably on the _Headsman."_

"Not gonna shack up with us?" Her head shook, "Let me guess, you don't want Illyan distracting Joa?"

"More like I want to watch Jun in action for once." I shook my head a little, "If we're going to go through with the task force concept, I want to see how she runs things first hand."

Trena exhaled a plume of white smoke. "I can get that ape, she'll do right by you."

I nodded, not surprised at her faith in her friend. And after the engagement at Carastes, I had little real issue with the idea of giving Jun a permanent battle-group, but it seemed prudent to make at least a cursory trip with her before officially doing so.

"How are the repairs going?" I turned to Ven, trusting that he'd have the data. I'd taken a rather large financial gamble in paying to have the Geth and pirate hulks above Novgorod towed back to Omega, with the intent of selling the former to pay for repairs to those of the latter that could be fixed up. My initial hope that the retired Asari heavy cruiser would be repairable had turned out to be over-optimistic, but the gruff lowborn who ran our dockyards assured me that his people could strip it down to help repair the others more cheaply.

Which, in theory, would give us an over-sized Asari destroyer plus five frigates of mixed designs. Assuming we didn't lose too many ships, and people, in the upcoming fight, the plan would be to allocate the new ships to Jun and form a task force around the _Headsman,_ much as the bulk of our existing fleet was centered around the _Reliant._

"Still negotiating with Aria over the prices on the Geth hulks." He shrugged elegantly, "She has agreed to a base price for all but the cruiser analog, which has let us start on the main repairs. Even at her current offer we'll be able to pay off the expense of returning them, and I believe I can manage at least a minimal profit."

"Good. We have that meeting this afternoon, don't we?"

My administrator nodded politely, "Yes sir, the local business leaders are being brought in to discuss our planned economic expansion. At least a few of them are going to ask for tax reductions."

I grunted. "They aren't getting them."

He winced. "Perhaps... allow me to phrase that more tactfully? If we could imply that our cut will decrease late next year, the war you believe is coming will obviate that promise."

"So long as we don't actually promise anything without the proper caveats." I shook my head, "I'm uncomfortable enough that we're about to break our contract on Horizon, I'm not adding a promise we can't keep to our own people today. Go ahead and draw up a few ideas, I'll come by early and review them with you and Erana."

Ven bowed his head, rising from his chair. "Yes sir, I'll make sure the wording is appropriately Xenthan."

Voya let out an amused little snort while Trena rolled her eyes.

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communication Log**_

 _Shyeel: Congratulations Ayle, you won._

 _Ayle: ...I really hope you have a better reason for calling me in the middle of invading my species' home-world._

 _Shyeel: You already told Cieran that your job is basically over now that the capital is under siege, and you won the bet. That's fifty thousand headed to you once Idas confirms it._

 _Ayle: Which bet? Wait, Sacred Pillars, Cieran and Voya actually...?_

 _Shyeel: I can't think of another reason he'd wear a high-collared uniform for the first time in six months. Waiting for the right moment to ambush him and see how many bruises she left._

 _Ayle: Half of my winnings state that they're all on the right side._

 _Shyeel: Who do you think I am? Faras? Of course she's the matriarch in the relationship._

 _Ayle: An excellent point. How much do you think he would bet, if we phrased it properly?_

 _Shyeel: Hmm... let me get with Illyan and Ghai, if we can come up with a good way to say it we'll put you in for the usual wager. How is the campaign going?_

 _Ayle: Resolving itself, as you said. The politicking has already begun between the liberals and the traditionalists. Balak will likely emerge from the war as High Admiral, with one of his liberal allies setup as the High Patriarch._

 _Shyeel: Huh. He doesn't have the connections to end up Hegemon then? What poor fucker gets that job?_

 _Ayle: Callus Del'thran._

 _Shyeel: ...oh goddess no._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 7: Irritable Distractions**_

 _A chapter where Cie and Voya are Cie and Voya, we finally get a bit of insight into Terminus Quarians, and plans are made to temporarily deal with the Collectors. Next chapter will, naturally, see a bit of adjustment to said plans as other problems arise._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

General Response - Part of the goal with that last chapter was to give a glimpse of how Cieran acts and is viewed by people outside of his inner circle, and further, outside of his senior staff. There was also a small, though not really overt reminder that his batarian side tends towards traditionalist, with some of the societal implications that that brings with.

Fenris - They'll be around in the future, though I don't know if we'll go back to Tora's POV... I'll say it's definitely possible.

Billiam- I have a few ideas for separate POV's in Hellhounds. The current plan is for it to follow Einherjar's pattern of having a non-Cieran section in every chapter, including from the perspective of at least one canon character.


	32. Act 3-7: Irritable Distractions

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act III: Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Irritable** **Distractions**

 _Date:_ 05-22-2186

 _Location:_ Illium Minor, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Terminus

* * *

All of our plans were proceeding along nicely, up until the Collectors hit New Jamestown a day and a half before all of our forces would have been in position.

"Athame's fucking azure." I had to fight the urge to slam a fist onto my desk, letting out a ragged exhale as I forced myself to stop cursing. Behind me, Illyan rested a broad palm on my right shoulder, squeezing gently. "...fuck. All right. What happened?"

The holographic form of _Ha'diq_ Murradin ul Ajin shifted his posture, wordlessly telling me that he understood my anger. " _My first flotillas were arriving at the mustering position when we received the satellite transmissions via the FTL buoy that your frigate dropped in the system. Given that none of Veik's forces had arrived, and given that most of my ships had accumulated significant charge, I elected to be cautious."_

I nodded slightly as another display flicked to life, data streaming in from the Batarian warlord's flagship. " _I awaited my entire fleet's arrival before moving in system, with the majority of my heavy ships discharging at the system's only gas giant while one raiding flotilla made a recon pass and then lurked behind the colony's moon."_

Behind me, Illyan leaned down, reading the data as it rolled in. "Five Collector ships, one of them is a big fucker... size of a goddess damned battlecruiser. Three smaller rocks that might be escorts, and then something like a light cruiser."

Ajin nodded. " _Plus another of the mid-sized ships on the surface, likely handling the collecting. Twenty minutes after our arrival, a Geth force emerged from FTL in support position. Four cruisers and two frigate analogs."_

My lips twisted at the numbers. To Ajin that would have been a difficult but winnable fight; the man had an old Turian battlecruiser as his flagship, plus seven more standard cruiser types escorted by more than thirty mixed frigates and raiding vessels. Veik's force was a little lighter, but he likely could have handled it as well, and if they were together it would be a severe numerical advantage if nothing else.

Our much smaller fleet, in comparison, wouldn't have nearly as good of odds. If we were only taking on the Geth, it might be a fight that Joa could win, but too many of our vessels were light corvettes and frigates more suited to fighting pirates than forming up in a battle sphere with the cruisers. Further, our own people wouldn't be so stupid as to not know that, and would decidedly hesitate before participating in a battle where they would be target practice at best.

" _The Collector vessel on the surface lifted off just as my fleet finished battle prep and made a micro-jump to approach from over the planet's crest."_ My temporary ally continued. " _The Collectors made no move to engage, instead simply adjusting their trajectory and jumping out system. The Geth forces engaged me for several minutes at extreme range, until all of the Collector ships had withdrawn, and then likewise departed."_

I grunted quietly. "Damage?"

" _Damage to a few of my lighter vessels, but nothing extreme. I have some of my people inspecting the colony, but so far we have found little besides the corpses of the few non-human residents."_

Not terribly surprising, if disappointing. "Were you able to take down any of them?"

" _One Geth frigate crashed in the northern hemisphere, and the other was destroyed directly by my flagship. Unfortunately all of the cruisers jumped before the bulk of my fleet could properly engage."_ He exhaled through his teeth, the hissing sound a sign of his own suppressed irritation. " _We will need a new plan given the situation."_

"Yes." I agreed darkly. "How long do you need for repairs, and what's Veik's status?"

" _He has begun shifting to Omega, a process that I intend to copy."_ The Batarian Warlord rolled a shoulder in a tiny motion, " _I will be content with five days to patch things up, after which I will be prepared to move."_

"Good." Fingers drummed slowly on my desk as I adjusted our plans on the fly, my eyes vacantly watching as Voya paced on the other side of my desk. "All right... we're going to shift this around a bit, we'll position everything for a wave pattern of reinforcements. Tell Veik to position his fleet just outside of Hainan's Oort cloud, and to have a shuttle relay his position to my people on the ground. Your fleet will take Sudeten, and mine will still position at IL-756."

He nodded slowly, " _Any attack sees an alert go out. The local fleet jumps in, your fleet arrives two hours later, and the third arrives two after that. The problem of lingering in one place remains."_

I grimaced. "How long can you give me?"

Another hissing breath, his lower eyes closing as he tilted his head in respectful thought. " _I can give you four weeks on station before I have to return to my own territory and recommence operations. Veik's logistics and supplies are better than mine at the moment, I believe he can give you five."_

Which wasn't long, but it could have been worse. My fleet could linger for far longer in terms of general supplies... though funding was the far larger issue. Without the Horizon contract, a war fleet and two regiments were no longer paying for themselves plus a small profit, and I couldn't just _stop_ paying everyone. We had cash reserves for this kind of situation, but they were very slim. Four weeks would be doable, but only barely, and we'd need contracts lined up immediately after if I didn't want to have to ask Nynsi to open her own accounts for us again.

"All right, we'll plan on four weeks starting five days from now." It was my turn to exhale through my teeth. "I'll send the updated plan to Aria and hold my main fleet back until you're ready to depart. All three of us will head out at the same time, and operate as if you've hired us on to join your raiding patterns."

" _Acceptable."_ Ajin nodded sharply, " _I can also release a broadcast, indicate that we were at New Jamestown to raid it and only encountered the Collectors and Geth as an annoying coincidence."_

"Good thinking." I let out a slow breath, feeling myself calming once again. The situation was irritating, true, but hardly deleterious. We would now have all of our forces concentrated on the two potential targets rather than divided between three, and we'd be in much better position to hammer at the Collectors over a drawn-out battle instead of having to risk everything on a fast engagement.

So now I just had to pray that the Collectors came within that time-frame, otherwise I'd be losing all of the backup that Aria had seen fit to give me... on top of hoping that Jun's people were right in their examinations of the Collector pattern, and that either Sudeten or Hainan would be the next target at all. If neither was, and the time ran out, we'd have to pull everyone out of both colonies and leave them to whatever fate awaited.

Fuck, if the Collectors didn't attack either one... we would probably not be able to engage them until either Shepard was awake, or they attacked New Canton or Nagato.

Shaking myself a little, I returned my attention to the Batarian. "Contact me when you arrive in system, our docks are swamped with my own ships, but I might be able to arrange something with the Eclipse to accelerate your repairs. And Illium Minor would be more than capable of giving your people a few days worth of leave."

The _Ha'diq_ gave me a sly grin, " _And you would appreciate my people filling your economy with credits to better your own situation?"_

I snorted quietly. "Something like that."

" _I will consider both offers."_ He replied, still grinning as he dipped his head. " _Reyja'krem."_

I tilted my own, " _Ha'diq._ "

The transmission cut out after that, leaving me to slump back in my chair and rub tiredly at my face. Of course this had to happen the day we were due to head out for our own rendezvous point, with more than half of the regiments already loaded onto the ships. It was probably chaos down at the docks as the order went out to turn everyone back and offload. Still, the rank and file would probably be thrilled at the extra week on Omega, even if a good deal of that would be spent training.

"Well." Illyan sighed behind me, "Shit. At least we've got better odds to win the fight now."

"Yeah." I agreed tiredly, "Assuming one of those two takes the brunt of the fighting. Fuck, I was expecting one Collector ship with Geth escorts, not a Collector battle-group _plus_ a Geth cruiser flotilla."

Shyeel let out a grunt, the scarred matron actually laying on the floor with an arm over her eyes, "And if they decide to change their schedule again, we could be stuck fighting those fuckers alone... which means only fighting them on the ground since there's no fucking way we're just going to throw our ships away, then hoping they just don't bombard the place from orbit out of annoyance. And all of _that_ is assuming they don't realize that we're entrenched on their targets in the first place."

"Yeah." I repeated, more quietly this time. "Have I ever told you that you're terrible for my morale?"

A blue hand waved vaguely at the ceiling, "You're terrible for mine, only seems fair."

Voya paused her pacing just long enough to kick the Asari lightly in the side, speaking over the startled sound of pain. "Any progress in the negotiations with Cear'tol? Midnight Spires?"

I leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes as I went through what we had. "Cear'tol will take the fleet, and we're looking at a pretty hefty profit margin on a long term contract, but they have a sizable army and aren't really interested in more. Spires fell through, they're picking up a unit from Bluewave Security instead. Pskov has at least started talking with us, but they want proof that we actually _can_ stop whoever is raiding colonies before they agree to hire a regiment."

Her black lips twisted, "Meaning they won't hire us if we don't fight the Collectors and win."

"Meaning that." I agreed. "So they aren't an option if the Collectors don't cooperate in terms of their targets or their schedule. We've got a rep coming in from Black Spire, they're interested in a regiment to bolster their defenses."

Illyan grunted, "Don't they have that feud with Ghet's Retreat?"

"Yeah." Shyeel groaned as she finally heaved herself up, shaking her scarred head a little and glowering at Voya's back. "We'll definitely see combat there. What about the Spinward _Meshinivi_?"

I rolled a shoulder. "A few are interested, especially since Sederis is tithing them all pretty hard. Problem is the timing, that's more of something we could give to the Sixth, or maybe the Seventh and Eighth once we get them online. Nothing that we could work out inside of the next month."

Voya's hair rustled as she glanced at me, "What about Sederis, or Aria?"

"Aria is an option." I admitted with a grimace, "She's dropped a few hints that I've tried to play off, I don't like the idea of binding us to her anymore than I have to."

My Harath'krem let out a long groan, "Shit boss, I don't know which option is worse. Directly hiring on with her, or letting those Black Spire crazies devote more people to their little war."

"I know." I shook my head tiredly. "I'm honestly leaning more towards Aria, if only because Nyreen is basically running her army now. We can trust her, at least for making sure that our people aren't used for anything we'd object to."

Illyan made a sound of acknowledgment, while Voya frowned. "What would Aria need us for?"

I rolled a shoulder, "Either heading off with the Migrant Fleet to fight the Geth, or taking up security around the station to free up more of her people to handle that."

My girlfriend made a nauseated face at the mention of the flotilla. "I still can't believe that the inbred are actually going to war."

Shyeel sighed, shaking her head as she slowly heaved herself up to her feet. "Don't worry, if shit goes half as badly as the crap in Cie's head did, it's going to be beyond a fucking mess. Maybe that Spectre will be right and there'll be a Reaper there, or maybe the Admirals are just going to fall into infighting... or maybe the Geth are just going to fuck everyone over so badly that the Republics think they can risk a strike at Omega."

I glowered at her irritably. "Illyan, hit Shyeel for me."

The taller Asari snorted, but stepped around my desk even as my fellow Reyja'krem groaned and braced herself. "Seriously? Just saying what you're thinking."

"That doesn't mean I want it said." I replied as Illyan dutifully, if a tad gently, whacked her over the crest with a fist. "Here's an idea, why don't you go help Ghai pick out a few more candidates for the next Lancer team."

"Such a hardass these days." Shyeel groaned theatrically, then looked disappointed when neither Voya or Illyan showed any sympathy for her. "Oh come on. He is."

Voya let out a superior sniff and turned her nose up. "You barely do any work around here and you know it."

"Hey." She planted her hands on her hips as she glared at the Quarian. "I do plenty of work."

Illyan snorted. "None of us except Cieran actually do any work around here, except when he remembers to actually give us something to do. One shift of evaluations won't hurt... crap."

Shyeel's almost panicked hand waving shut her up far too late, and I smirked a little as I spoke up again, "Fair point. Shyeel? Consider yourself seconded to Ghai for the next four days, I'll be sure to let her know you're coming. Tell her I want it cut down to eighteen potentials by the time we leave, I'll go over them when we get back. Illyan?"

There was a long groan, "Am I working on our gear or with Trena's team?"

"Trena's." I informed her, "Since you were nice enough to remind me to give you work to do, I'll let you loom over Jacqueline and making threatening faces while you work."

Illyan's expression brightened almost immediately, even as Voya's eyes narrowed. "I'm not working on-"

"You get to make sure our equipment is good to go." I spoke over her before she could tell me that she wasn't going to touch Illyan's, "Yes, including hers."

My girlfriend curled her lips back to show me her teeth as she made a girlishly frustrated sound, but she nodded when I lifted an eyebrow at her. She was, naturally, the first one to angrily strut out of the room, Shyeel rolling her eyes and following in her wake.

"You know boss," Illyan lingered for a few moments longer, "Just because you think she's hot when she's angry doesn't make it a good idea to annoy her."

I snorted, already working the console on my desk to start composing a message to Aria. "She'll calm down once she realizes that I only gave her a day's worth of work at most, where you two will be busy from now up until we get on the ship."

"Favoritism?"

"Always." I replied, waving my left hand at her. "Now shoo, go work on things, and make sure to intimidate your sister's girlfriend for me. Remember to involve Trena too, she'll start asking for details about their sex life and Jacqueline's always fun when she's too angry to string sentences together properly. If nothing else you might pick up a few new curses."

"Ass." She snorted, giving me a rude gesture and a grin before departing.

I smiled and shook my head as the door shut, then busied myself in writing the update on the Collector situation to Aria and sending it off. Oddly enough, I'd barely shifted my attention to a report from Ven about supply acquisition when I got a reply from Nyreen, indicating that she approved of the revised plan and would make sure Aria understood the supply and economic constraints that I was operating under. She also added an annoyed little rant about the fact that Aria was helping the Quarians at all, apparently Daro'xen was getting on her nerves, and she'd rather be committing a fleet or two to support my fight with the Collectors and Cerberus if it meant not dealing with that psychopath.

That amused me for a few moments, if only because Nyreen knew full well that Aria wouldn't lift a finger to help me at this point. She'd temporarily given me the alliance with Ajin and Veik, but she still didn't _like_ me. I was a warlord because Nyreen disapproved of killing me, and more practically, because Aria was looking to limit Sederis and T'Ravt's power as much as she could and didn't want our celebrity being allied with either of them anymore than it already was. This entire affair with the Collectors was something to keep me occupied, something important enough to make sure that I actually _did_ make an effort instead of just pretending to.

And if I happened to sustain heavy losses and weaken my part of the Blades significantly in the process of weakening a long-term enemy, Aria would hardly be upset.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I returned to the small tidal wave of paperwork that a mercenary company running a small city accumulated. As usual I hit the military side of things first, quickly burning through several supply orders, approved a few two day leave requests for a handful First and Second regiment officers with families on station, glanced over Ghai's hasty training regimen for the units now stuck on station for an extra five days, and scheduled a few interviews for prospective ship captains that Joa had selected. The easy matters out of the way, I went into the discipline folder next, groaning as I meted out docked pay for a wide variety of petty issues, time in the brig I hadn't wanted to build for a few more serious issues, and one ejection from the corporation for an assault on a civilian.

After that I got to move into civil and economic files. The former was a lot of dealing with businesses and individuals trying to dodge out of our taxation program. A few were legitimate and I marked them as being allowed breaks, but most were blatant excuses or whining and I authorized Ven to deal with them however he and his people saw fit.

The economic section wasn't nearly as understandable, given the giant spreadsheets of raw numbers which saw me mostly just reading Erana's translations of the data before moving on to the requests that Ven was making as a result of trends in said data. Illium Minor's population growth had finally started to slow, but even with the addition of a few neighborhoods that had politely requested our 'protection', it was close to overcrowded.

What that meant practically was that a good deal of our people could only find employment in other zones, which in turn caused vastly increased aerial traffic in and out of the district. Ven wanted to open at least two of the airtight doors in the lower levels, along with a lift bank that we'd shut down in order to ease some of that, but he also admitted that he wasn't sure what the response would be.

Illium Minor was... in a very isolated position in those days, a literal island inside of Omega.

It had become public knowledge that any slave who made it through our gates would immediately be sedated and rushed off to have their implants surgically removed. Aria tolerated it, but _only_ within the exact borders of my territory, since the last thing she needed right now was Tuhi's collection of slaving assholes losing their collective minds. As a result, for nearly half a year at least one or two slaves made a desperate bid for freedom every shift, with some making it... and some being run down, or succumbing to their implants before they could reach the gates.

The various slaving groups had at least learned not to taunt our guards by abusing failed runaways in front of them, not after the first time said guards had sent me a live-stream of three slavers raping an old Turian right there in public, the woman still trying to claw her way closer even as the Batarian males taunted our guards with Aria's orders.

I'd sent Jacqueline and Voya to handle it, while I composed a hand written note to Aria to tell the warlords and gangs in Tuhi that next time it happened I wouldn't be so polite. Trena had taken it, along with the blood covered skulls of the men responsible, to Afterlife. Aria had evidently rolled her eyes at the display, but had allowed that my people could hardly be faulted for retaliating against such an overt and gauche display.

The result of our guards getting shoot-on-sight authority for any obvious slaver approaching our gates had been retaliation from the largest slaver operating in Tuhi. _Ha'diq_ ul Shinvec had brutally seized control of the blocks that surrounded Illium Minor on the core level and built make-shift fortifications facing our own gates. Said gates had duly been expanded into actually defensive works as well, and now there was a kind of no man's land about a block wide with Aria's supreme command the only thing keeping the peace.

If anything the fact that Shinvec and I loathed each other just seemed to amuse the Queen. She'd made it a point during the last two gatherings of her various subordinate warlords to force us to interact in some way, then she sipped wine and watched us snarl at one another.

Grimacing at the memories, I flicked the full map of Doru district up, highlighting Illium Minor and the doors that Ven wanted open. Our area remained a crescent, following the edges of the circular part of the station, descending several levels evenly before several 'roots' sprouted downwards in various directions; The legacy of Illyan's adjustment to aim our expansion and minimize casualties. A decent portion of the surrounding areas had voluntarily joined after, but we'd been careful to only expand when invited and in ways that would let us maintain the 'seal'.

These days the only incoming foot traffic came through the main lifts that ran down to Cala, the inhabitants of that district having banded together to butcher Shinvec's sole attempt to cut off that access route. They weren't about to lose their access to Illium Minor's wide variety of casinos, drug dens, restaurants, brothels, and bars. Especially since all of our facilities were much safer to visit than our rival businesses around the station.

Opening more access into the lower areas of Doru would be a risk... but he'd chosen them well. Both gates connected to Tersatani territory, the Asari gang being our only real ally on the station and the primary suppliers of the recreational substances that were sold at our various licensed drug dens. The lift bank he'd picked ran into a stretch of the main docks controlled directly by Aria, so that at least would be safe enough as well.

I was in the middle of composing my approval notice, with caveats about being properly prepared to defend said locations, when my office door opened without anyone knocking first.

My eyes snapped up, expecting to see Erana with more paperwork that I really didn't want to bother with. Instead it was Voya who came in, yawning as she did. The fact that she let me see her do so more or less cemented that she wasn't angry with me anymore, and had realized that I'd barely given her anything to do in comparison to the others. Still, I'd expected it to take her longer.

I blinked a little, "Done already?"

"It's the end of third shift." She replied, wide eyes narrowing at me. " _Keelah_ , you lost track of time again, didn't you? You better have been actually working and not just lost in that graybox."

"I was working." I quickly assured her, though I still was a little surprised that five hours had gone past. "See? My inbox is down below twenty percent for once."

It was probably a bad sign that Voya kept glaring at me even as walked over, making a point to personally check said records and then inspect how many messages I'd sent out while she was gone.

"All right." She allowed reluctantly once she'd confirmed that, "But you didn't even stop to eat, did you you stupid _keshin_?"

I winced a little as my body belatedly realized that I hadn't, and that I was absolutely starving. "Here or downstairs?"

"Here." Voya huffed quietly. "And _you_ are making it."

My left eyebrow rose. "Is that supposed to be a punishment? Because honestly I'd be far more worried if you said that you were making it."

There was a low growl as her glare returned, arms crossing her chest as she stared down her nose at me. "I can cook if I want to."

"By certain definitions of the word cooking." I replied turning back to my console to finish the message to Ven, firing it off before closing everything down. "The last time you tried to make rice you burned it."

"This is coming from the man who utterly failed at making Zhekar." She snapped back.

I glowered at her as I stood up, "That's because you hacked my translator and just kept repeating the instructions in Khellish, and you know that my Khellish is terrible."

Voya promptly rattled off a sentence in her native language, proving that she'd circumvented my last attempt to clear out her hack, but I caught 'learn', 'you', and 'keshin'. A second sentence promptly followed, the last two words understandable as 'idiot male'.

"You know what's really annoying?" I muttered as I headed towards the office's back door, entering the short hallway to our suite. "Even if I was a good enough hacker to replicate what you did, you speak all three of the languages I'm still fluent in."

That earned me an amused little snort as she followed me, though she at least returned to Thessian Standard when she spoke again, "My usual. Rare."

I sighed as I headed into the kitchen, pulling out the various pieces of meat that I would need. An hour or so later found us reclining on the couch, Voya checking various records on her omni-tool, a foot being massaged in my lap while I idly smoked chehala from my pipe.

"I was able to reconfigure your left gauntlet." She murmured, the small claws on her two toes flexing as I worked my way up to her oddly shaped ankle, feeling the soft scratching of her hair. "You can reset the forearm plates into a omni-shield that fans from your wrist to the elbow."

I glanced over at her, exhaling a small plume of white smoke. "Really? You got the adapter to work then?"

One of her hands rolled lazily. "Yes, but it's not setup to allow for shifting between the two yet. If the adapter is in place you get the shield but not those plates, that's why I only built the one until..."

My lips curled a little, "Until I could take a look at it?"

Black lips pursed as she let out an annoyed little breath, then she pushed on as if she hadn't come close to admitting that I was a better mechanical engineer than she was. "...what are we going to do be doing while we wait?"

"Probably more paperwork first shift, then showing Illyan and Shyeel some mercy." I mused, "The four of us could do with a few training runs against Trena's team."

Voya grunted softly, shutting her omni-tool down and letting her head fall back against the couch. "They outnumber us... we'll have to cheat. Sabotaging their training equipment will be hard, the little bitch is almost as paranoid as you are. Trap the training grounds?"

"Hm." More smoke flowed out from my mouth as I puffed on my pipe, considering the idea. "Definitely worth the attempt, probably three or four simulated minefields, and explosive lace in the best pieces of cover. Illyan and I can setup to protect Shyeel in her usual sniper nest, that will keep their attention."

Lips curled at the edges. "Am I lurking in the crowd, or in one of the buildings over looking the grounds?"

I waved a hand permissively. "Whichever you prefer, just make sure you overstock on nullifiers, Trena will probably send Mirala to hunt you."

"I can handle it." She assured me, kicking her free leg over top of the other and curling her toes a little, making it clear that it was time to rotate. Rolling my eyes in bemusement, I duly shifted my left hand and began carefully working my fingers into the calloused soles of her foot. "What do you think our odds are?"

"Of beating Trena in war games, or of giving the Collectors' a bloody nose?"

She let out a quiet scoff. "Obviously the latter."

I grunted, accepting the implied rebuke. The notion of _losing_ to Trena was anathema to her. "I... have no idea. Mordin was able to give us a blueprint to jam the seekers, but I have no idea if it will actually work. The fact that he's fairly ambivalent about us in general doesn't help. Athame alone knows if Jun's people have the targets picked out correctly as well."

Voya grimaced. "Forty percent, they hit one of the two colonies at all?"

"At best." A sigh punctuated my words as I let my own head roll back. "Dammit. I'm sending Nara and Vishin's people to get killed against an enemy that barely fucking matters to us."

My Quarian partner flicked her eyes to me, her chest shifting as she let out a ragged exhale. Then she was pulling her feet out of my lap and moving her entire body over. A moment later her knees were on either side of my legs, a hand irritably yanking my pipe out of my hands and extinguishing it over my sound of protest.

"Cieran. You run a mercenary company." Arms rested on my shoulders as she stared at me. "And you're a warlord. Your people _are_ going to die sooner or later, and you know that. Some already did on Horizon, during the withdrawal, and have died here dealing with idiots."

Exhaling, I leaned my forehead down until it rested against hers, feeling the heat of her skin. "I know, but this is going to be worse than those. I could convince myself that was just collateral, random shit luck. If it wasn't the Collectors-"

The tips of her forked tongue flicked at my mouth to shut me up before she spoke, "Liar. They're worse than slavers, you want them obliterated as much as I do. You're just upset because we don't have the forces to _easily_ confront them and drive them back until Shepard can deal with them."

"You can't just let me lie to myself and be annoyed?" I asked, very carefully settling my hands on her waist. There was a slight tensing to her muscles that I could feel through her shirt, but when I merely left them there she slowly relaxed. "Always have to prove that you know me."

She scoffed quietly. "You're even less attractive than usual when you're moping."

My lips twitched a little, "So that's your motive? Should I take my shirt off so you can see the rest of my scars?"

The skin around her eyes darkened a little, and her voice lowered to an annoyed growl. "I should never have admitted that."

"It wouldn't have been hard to figure out." I snorted, glancing down at her right arm as it slid across my shoulder and down to my arm. Cool claw tips and hot skin touched the burn scars on my forearms, "You always seem to want to touch them, or my hair."

"Always?" She snorted, though her blush didn't fade. "We've touched each other _twice_."

"Point stands." I replied easily, leaning back a little and half closing my eyes as her touch slid back up, three fingered hands running through hair that was getting closer to the appropriate length again. "A better question is what brought this on at all?"

Her flush deepened, her grey skin turning almost black as blood rushed to her face. "I... might have found something after I was done working on our equipment. I was going through some of my old materials, for my necklace, and... well."

I blinked as her right hand abruptly moved to her side, her body awkwardly shifting to let her reach into a pocket. A moment later it returned, holding a single broken Turian claw.

"Shith." She murmured the name quietly. "I took three of his talons. I was... I was going to make two of them into amulets, for you and Rane'li, and give them to you whenever I finally decided to leave. So that you'd..."

"Remember you?" I asked, reaching up and carefully taking the slaver's remains.

"Well, that and be recognizable so I wouldn't accidentally kill you if we ended up on opposite sides in some fight." She admitted with more than a bit of embarrassment.

I snorted, smiling a little as I looked over the black claw before placing it back in her palm. "And that made you decide to crawl into my lap?"

"It... reminded me." Her voice lowered again, becoming soft as she carefully set the talon on the arm of the couch. "Of everything that you've done for me. How much I owe you."

"Voya, you don't-"

Hot lips pressed against mine, then pulled back as she shook her head. "You bought me out of slavery. Helped me kill everyone who'd assaulted me. Paid to have my throat fixed, to let me speak again. Forgave me for losing control more than once. Held me at night, even when I nearly stabbed you when I woke up. And when you were with Rane, or that big idiot... you were still there if I needed something, always."

I swallowed a little, "Voya, you make it sound like I did all of that altruistically. I always had-"

"A motive, a reason, an excuse, or a combination thereof." She leaned in again, but this time merely flicked her tongue across my lips in a way that made me swallow heavily. "But you could have just as easily _not_ done any of it. _Keelah_ , there were times when I probably deserved you just leaving me behind... but you never did."

"Voya..." I tried to continue, only to feel fingers wrapping around my wrists.

"Cieran." Voya exhaled almost irritably. "I loathe having to act anything like Illyan, much less repeat something I know she once told you, so don't ever make me say this again: Shut your idiot mouth and let me take care of you."

Even if I had wanted to say anything in reply to that, her burning lips stopped me as she leaned forwards once again. I stiffened briefly, not sure how to feel about her reasons for... where this seemed to be going, but my moment of resistance vanished the moment her hands seized my wrists and guided them to her waist.

I still felt the moment of stillness when my fingers slid beneath her shirt, but then her tongue was in my mouth while my fingers explored taught muscles and the hot skin beneath cool layers of hair. Something in her throat vibrated in a low, pleased sound when I slid my left hand up, lightly running finger tips along the bottom of her sensitive breasts. My right stayed on her waist, but even in my increasingly lust fogged state, I took care not to wrap the limb around her, made sure that she never felt as if I was trapping her in place.

Minutes or eternities later she broke away from my lips, one of her hands impatiently tugging her shirt up while the other wrapped around my neck to pull my head to her chest... only to abruptly stop, a pained gasp coming out from my throat as claws pricked into the sides of my neck.

"Ahem." A polite Asari voice coughed quietly, her tones slightly muffled. She had to have been looking away... wait. How the fuck would she have even gotten in? That hadn't been Erana's voice, and she was the only one with an override for the substantial security on the doors.

"You." Voya's normally girlish voice was practically tectonically low in its frustrated anger. "What the fuck are _you_ doing here?"

"I have need of your assistance." My blood went cold as I abruptly recognized who was in our bloody suite with us.

Instead of bothering to speak, one of Voya's hand streaked behind her back and returned with her pistol. It had barely been aimed when there was a flash of blue and the stench of ozone, a biotic yank ripping it out of her hands before she could do anything with it, and a vicious oath came out of Voya's lips even as I tried to turn my head to see who else had fucking showed up.

"I _do_ apologize." Liara T'Soni spoke in a voice that had no trace of apology in it, but plenty of weariness that she tried and failed to hide. "But as I said, this is a critical matter."

"Voya." My left hand snapped up even as I felt her muscles coil to spring, her other hand already having pulled a short blade from somewhere on her person. " _Voya."_

Glowing eyes snapped down to glare at me, then she leaned back a little when I met her glare with one of my own.

"Think who's in here with us." I told her, keeping my voice even while my mental currents swirled through the logic. My lust for the woman in my arms died rapidly as my brain realized that it did _not_ like where said currents took me. "How desperate is she that she would break into _our_ home on Omega and ask for help?"

Voya blinked once. Then twice. Then abruptly looked nauseated even as she forced herself to nod. A few moments later had her shirt was properly covering everything and the both of us standing, my girlfriend retrieving her pistol from the corner of the room while I took in our guest.

Liara was in something like her armor from the third game, though it had never looked so heavily battered. Parts of it were barely being kept together view omni-gel patches, and the coat had pieces of it missing... warpfire, unless I missed my guess. Further, she had obvious scorch marks on her left hand, and four neat burns on the left side of her face along with a tiny bit on the tip of her nose. Though she was doing her best to hide it, I could also tell she was trying to keep her weight off of her left foot, and the biotic barrier she was keeping between herself and Voya was flickering hard around the edges.

She'd been in a fight... and evidently lost.

"Relax, Doctor." I exhaled, stopping a polite distance away and keeping my hands spread. "If you'd wanted to kill us, you already could have, I know that you're just here to talk. You have my word that we won't harm you. You need a medic?"

"I..." Her arm trembled a little as she lowered her hand, letting the barrier fall. "Only Lancer Washana, please. I would rather keep my presence here quiet for both of our sakes."

Yeah, this was already surfing past bad and straight into horrifically complicated disaster, and I didn't even know _why_ yet. The fact that she knew Washana by name also irked me a little, if only because I wasn't surprised at all that she probably knew all of our Lancers and their histories. Fuck, she probably knew more than I'd bothered to ask.

And I really, _really_ didn't appreciate being interrupted in this fashion.

While I was mentally fuming, Voya had a pertinent question of her own. "How did you even bypass our security and sneak all the way up here?"

Liara opened her mouth, then blinked and seemed to wobble on her feet before one of her arms jerked out of its own accord, moving as if someone had just thrown it over their shoulder. A moment later a woman about Voya's height shimmered into appearance, visibly supporting the laboring maiden.

"She had a little help." Kasumi Goto chirped cheerfully as she pulled a mesh like mask off of her face to bunch up around her neck, vapor actually forming from her breath as her cloaking system shut down. "By the way, you have an excellent taste in physical books, Kean-sama."

Oh fucking goddess. Both of my hands rose to furiously rub at my face, and my mood did not improve when I lowered them and saw black marks on my palms. From the way Goto made a strangled little noise and pointedly looked in another direction while grinning, I'd probably just rubbed Voya's lipstick all over my face.

"Voya, call Trena and Washana up here. No one else. You, invisible girl, get the Doctor into that couch, the one away from the window." I managed once I'd calmed myself to speak in an even tone of voice.

Fifteen minutes later found the weird tableau complete, and my face washed from water in the sink. Washana gently touching a prone Liara in various places and peeling back broken armor to inspect apparent injuries beneath. Sitting on chairs dragged nearby were the other four of us, Kasumi closest to the couch, listening intently while Aethtya's daughter spoke.

"My father is missing." She began, her voice quiet. "She had set up her new facility on the colony of Cassindan, near the galactic rim. It is a minor trade hub for the Terminus Asari who live near the Perseus Veil, and the traffic in and out obscured her agents' movements. However, two weeks ago, she believed that Matriarch T'Ravt had traced her location and she made preparations to shift to a new base."

My right hand rose, "Interjection. How often has she been relocating?"

Liara shrugged a little. "Every other month, on average. The Cassindan facility lasted a little longer than normal, almost four. A routine message was sent out, indicating that the Broker would be dark for two standard days, and then would come back online and expect full reports. I was to meet her on Illium, her new location was going to be in one of the Eclipse's fallout shelters beneath the arctic ocean."

I grimaced, having a good idea where this story was going. "She never arrived?"

"No." Liara exhaled heavily, closing her eyes against the emotion. "She used three ships in the transfer: an automated vessel carrying the data feed equipment, a decoy, and her personal pinnance for herself and her staff and guards. Only the first actually arrived in Nos Astra on time. After eight hours of waiting, I sent a message to extend the downtime and then sent the vessel to a random point in dark space before trying to locate my father's ship. Her backup touchdown was in Nos Irrail, and I had barely begun to go through the starport records there when I was attacked by a Nightwind team. That was ten days ago, I have been on the run since."

"Athame's ass." Trena muttered. "You didn't go to my father?"

"Initially, she dealt with the first team, but her help... costs." The maiden winced a little, almost starting to reach up to her cheek before forcing herself back down. I glanced at the markings there again, then winced as I realized what they were. Someone had slapped her, hard, with warpfire around their fingers to make sure the mark stayed.

"Sederis give you that?" I asked quietly.

Liara's lips pressed together. "I... was emotional, when I attempted to negotiate with her, and said something I should not have."

Trena and I both winced, though it was scales who spoke up. "Shit. You try to threaten her?"

"I referenced a plan of my father's, to insure her cooperation in case of an emergency." Her throat moved as she swallowed. "Sederis felt free to inform me that I am not my father, and that if I ever tried to threaten her again, I would not survive to finish the sentence."

Typical Sederis then... I shook my head, "I'm guessing you left Illium after that?"

"T'Soni-sama hired me to get her off world." Kasumi finally spoke up again, her voice lacking the amused cheer I'd heard earlier. "I brought her to a friend's safe-house on Meikista, we were there for less than a day before three Cerberus agents tried to bomb the building."

Air whistled between my teeth while Trena and Voya let out curses, and even Washana's hands briefly froze before she visibly forced herself to resume working Liara's boot off. "Cerberus is working with the Matriarch?"

Liara closed her eyes and nodded again. "After that engagement we made for the ship holding the data feeds, and I activated all of our agents inside of Cerberus to get answers."

The words started to tumble out after that point, as if she needed someone besides Kasumi to just vent all of this out to. Her first admission, that all five agents had died within hours of sending her their data, visibly affected her even as she spoke.

"There are currently three major cells in operation." She exhaled, keeping her eyes closed as she recounted the data from memory. "Each seems to be focused on a specific scenario. One seeks to achieve human dominance, that is Project Horus. Another one hopes to achieve human survival at any cost, that is Project Prometheus. The last is aimed at giving your species the political footing to stand equal to other races, that is Project Lazarus. There are numerous smaller cells, but all are focused on supporting those three."

Exhaling, I leaned back and folded my hands together, listening politely as she related information.

Lazarus was more or less as I expected, with the added details of how Harper hoped to manipulate Shepard when she woke up... and how he planned to properly cut her loose if she didn't act as he wished. Even if she departed Cerberus, so long as she lead the fight against the Reapers, as the _human_ center of resistance, she was effectively doing his bidding by improving our image. If victory was possible, and Shepard lead the galaxy there, he reasonably assumed that humanity would at _least_ have massive amounts of political capital to burn in the aftermath.

Horus, in turn, was the Reaper takeover concept writ large. About the only major difference between its core and sub-projects and what the Matriarch had put into my head was the intelligence with which the project was being run. Scientists were kept as far from Reaper tech as was practical, with remote mechs to do the grunt work, and so far only Vorcha were being 'officially' expended to try and co-opt the indoctrination signal.

Which just left Prometheus, which was suitably enraging to make up for Horus's rather tame beginnings. That particular project was Cerberus's admission that victory against the Reapers might _not_ be possible... at least not without Leviathan assistance. While Harper wanted Human dominance long term, he wasn't so moronic as to not realize that survival was preferable to pointless death. Early attempts to negotiate with the eldritch creatures had convinced them that, though Humanity was poorer stock than the Asari, we had sufficient potential to warrant elevation over the other lesser species... _if_ we proved to be useful.

"He's playing all sides as best he can." I groaned as Liara finished, rubbing at my forehead. I wanted badly to smoke, but Washana had admonished me not to given the medications she wanted to give the wounded maiden. "If Shepard looks like she can win, he can support her with intel on the Leviathans and give her tech to fuck-up Reaper signals. If he thinks he can control Reaper-tech, he can use the same intel to take out the Leviathan's agents and keep track what Shepard is doing. And if he thinks the Levi's need any help, showing control of Reaper tech and giving them Shepard on a platter would be a good way to do it."

"He is doing more than that." Liara shook her head as best she could while laying down, wincing as our medic attended to a bleeding slash in her left calf. "He wants to eliminate Kaya's support, her friends, leave her dependent on him and his resources. If he can win Matriarch T'Ravt's confidence in the process, so much the better."

Voya growled as she got it, "Vakarian and Korolev, along with you and the old bitch. If he can get rid of you, she won't have anyone who would trust her, not if he makes sure she's publicly associated with Cerberus."

There as a slight nod. "Yes. Jack is with you, and viewed as unlikely to return. Wrex and Tali are likewise occupied, leaving just the three of us and my father. If we could be indoctrinated, or simply killed... Kaya would have few other options but to rely on him if she intends to fight the Reapers."

Next to the couch, Kasumi let out a polite little sound. "Based on what we know, Lazarus is his main plan, the other two are just back-ups. He's not confident that Reaper tech can be controlled, and trusts the Leviathans not at all. Meaning if we mess with them a bit, he won't just stop working on _C_ _hūsa_ Shepard-sama."

I glanced at the thief, frowning. "We? What's your angle, and why are you already assuming that we're going to be helping with this?"

"T'Soni-sama helped me retrieve something very important to me." She replied calmly, "And has hired me to assist her. Even if she hadn't, I'd have to be a pretty stupid _baka_ to not want to help save the galaxy I live in."

The implied insult that I'd be an idiot to not help as well didn't go unnoticed, but my usually dependable glare merely made the Japanese girl smile cheerfully at me. "T'Soni?"

Liara let out a tired groan, reluctantly accepting Washana's help as the former Eclipse officer gently pulled her up to a seated position. "If stopping Harper's schemes is not sufficient, I can pay double your fees."

"Oh I'll fuck over that asshole anyway I can." I assured her, earning a snort from Trena and a grim little smile from Voya. "But from the way you're talking, you want me to rush of on this right away, which is a problem considering that we already have a very large operation planned against the Collectors and I doubt this is something that will be resolved inside of a week or two."

She nodded slightly, "Yes, but I only need a single commando team for this mission. An army would only alert them."

Voya let out a low growl, "Stop dancing around the subject. _What_ is so bloody important?"

A scoff came from Trena as scales leaned back in her chair, "It's fucking obvious, and you said it yourself. Vakarian, Korolev, and the old fish. Cerberus has at least one of 'em."

Liara inhaled sharply, then let it out as she nodded once. "Garrus and Nikita were investigating rumors of Cerberus activity on Freedom's Progress, including a chance that that is where they took my father, when I lost contact with them. I tried to get there myself, but..."

"More Nightwind." Kasumi supplied. "Took out the Broker safe-house in Kima district, and we had to take a chance with you."

Dammit. "So you're saying you want me to send my Lancer team with you to rescue three people, two of whom hate me, right before we're about to fight it out with the Collectors?"

"No." Her head shook. "I'm saying I want _your_ team to come with me to rescue three people, two of whom hate you."

That actually made me blink and lean back in my chair, hair rustling nearby as Voya shook her head, as if she wasn't sure what she'd just heard. "Pardon?"

"It is no offense against you, Trena Sederis." Liara tipped her head towards scales. "But I have also requested the assistance of Spectre Severa, as well as a... confidential resource, but they won't participate without your explicit presence... they don't seem to trust me, or your subordinates."

My lips parted a little, "You didn't. Athame's fucking... that's going to-"

"What choice did I have!?" She all but snapped back at me. "My father, Nikita, Garrus, they could be dying or _worse_ right now. I don't have the access codes to activate the few Broker kill teams that my father was able to retain, and Vasir is on a Council assignment on Earth and can't get here in time. _They_ and _you_ are the only chance I have of saving them!"

"Even," I replied, keeping my voice even despite her emotion, and ignoring the confused looks that everyone else present were exchanging. "If it costs you Shepard?"

"Kaya would have told me it wasn't worth it, not if we lost them." Her head shook once. "Will you help me?"

Air whistled between my teeth before my hands rose to rub furiously at my face. Athame's ass, this was throwing _all_ of my plans into bloody chaos. Our principal contact was probably blood raging in abject fury right now, this was _beyond_ ahead of schedule.

"Cie." Trena spoke quietly, "What the fuck are you two bitching about? Who did she activate? This about that shit that you and Ghai did on Illium way the fuck back when? The thing you won't fucking talking about?"

"Yes." I replied, lowering my hands. "Shit."

Voya regarded me for a long moment, then let out a long, pained groan. "We're doing it, aren't we?"

"If we don't... we probably lose Aethyta, Vakarian, Korolev, and T'Soni, since I doubt she'll abandon them if I refuse to go with." I saw Liara nod tightly, confirming the point. "And it might cost us our inroad into Cerberus since our contacts might react badly to my refusal to get involved, which could be... very, very bad long term. Shepard never waking up or waking up wrong kind of bad. Trena?"

Scales sighed. "Who's going to take the Collector op? Ghai?"

I nodded tiredly. "Yeah. Go get her and all of the Senior Captains, I'll need to brief them. If we're lucky we can wrap this up before the Collectors make a move, but we'll prepare as if I won't be back in time. Washana? How much work does she need?"

The maiden bit her lip, "Minor wounds, biotic exhaustion, and dehydration. She needs water and food, lots of it to get her regeneration going, but I can patch her injuries up quickly enough. I do want her to get at least two shifts worth of sleep before she even thinks about fighting though."

"I can sleep on the ship." Liara cut in, "We need-"

"To move quickly," I cut her off in turn. "I know, I know. Washana, go ahead and grab whatever medical equipment you need to patch her up and put an order in with one of the bars for food. Voya? Go with and help her haul that up, no servants in here to see them. And get Shyeel and Illyan."

My girlfriend nodded tightly, "What are you going to be doing?"

"Sending a message to someone who's probably beyond pissed off at the moment."

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communication Log**_

 _Cieran,_

 _We're finishing matters on Khar'shan and the first of my regiments are beginning to transfer back to Xentha. Shaaryak is temporarily remaining behind to work with the new Hegemon, obstinately for political reasons but I'm reasonably sure that she is bedding him in the hopes of producing a child. Personally I could care less what that highborn bitch decides to do with her body, but given your prior relationship, I thought it best to warn you before anything official happens._

 _In more official matters, the war is largely concluded now that the High Patriarch is dead, with only a few Ha'diq not hastening to 'defect' before a surrender demand is made. I believe that Del'thran is going to allow some of the fighting to continue, letting a desert mirage of chaos continue in order to deceive the Alliance and Council while he hastens to start rebuilding. My people performed more than well, and please pass on my compliments to Voya and Shyeel for their training of Terro's team. They were instrumental in several engagements and I am pleased to inform you that all survived._

 _Once my people have returned to Xentha and been given sufficient leave, I would like to meet personally with you at either of our bases' to discuss future operations, and to simply enjoy the company of old friends once again. It has been too long._

 _ _With fondest memories,__

 _ _Executive Commander, Xentha__

 _ _Ayle ul Massa__

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 8: A House Divided**_

 _And here we go. Three chapters of fun to follow, after which we'll have one epilogue chapter before jumping right into the next story._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Tusken1602 → The Del'thran have a reputation as eccentrics, putting it politely.


	33. Act 3-8: A House Divided

I don't own the Mass Effect.

 _For those not aware, story and author alerts have been down for the last ten days. If you did not read Chapter 7 yet, be sure to do so before this one._

* * *

 **Act III: Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: A House Divided**

 _Date:_ 05-25-22186

 _Location:_ En route to Freedom's Progress, Attican Traverse

* * *

As impatient as Liara was to get moving, I wasn't just the leader of a commando team anymore. That I was going to be totally incommunicado in the middle of a massive operation meant that I had to issue about a million orders before we left, as well as making sure that everyone knew that Ghai was in command until I returned. Since she'd long established herself as someone who terrified everyone in the corporation, that part was at least a simple matter.

The bigger problem was the fact that I wasn't confident of leaving Ven in command on Omega, not as much as I had been before the informational deluge from our guests. Kasumi had admitted that, while she was sure they hadn't been followed initially, it also wouldn't be difficult for Cerberus to figure out where she and Liara might have gone after the firefight down in Kima. Even though they'd be leaving, we couldn't exactly broadcast that information, and it wouldn't come as a surprise if someone tried to attack or infiltrate our headquarters to find them.

Ven was a dependable guy, but he wasn't a military leader, and I didn't fully trust either of our rookie Senior Captains either. Considering the kind of enemy we could expect to try something, that really just left Trena and her team as the best option. To say that she was unhappy at finding herself in command while her bondmate and best friend went off to war would be a massive understatement, but she'd gritted her teeth and accepted the necessity.

That done, I'd sent off a message to Ajin and Veik, informing them that I had a personal matter to deal with and to work with my second in command until I returned. Neither was happy, though they relaxed somewhat when I assured them that I expected to rejoin my fleet within two weeks, Ghai's authority to order them in my name was merely a precaution in case the Collectors accelerated their schedule once again.

If nothing else the delay let Liara recover somewhat, and she looked far less haggard when it came time to leave the station. Using one of our actual warships was obviously a poor idea, so we were stuck using one of the three Batarian pinnaces that I'd directed Ven to buy a few months back. The vessels were little, block-like ships with broad cooling fins that rose from both their dorsal and ventral surfaces, the latter of which collapsed sideways on landing, but were surprisingly roomy on the interior with six small cabins, a cargo bay, and a decent little lounge. Their main purpose was to shuttle sealed messages we couldn't risk transmitting between Illium, Omega, and Xentha, and were thus all rigged to broadcast random IFF signals rather than our own codes, but the notion of using them to move Lancer teams around quietly had always been an option.

We'd put the small ship in the _Reliant's_ shuttle bay, the cruiser leaving early for the rendezvous point to disguise the fact that I wasn't sticking around, and then hit FTL in deep space once Joa had bounced us into the Traverse proper. The trip had been relatively short, but had boosted Liara's morale in that she'd been able to spend another day with her estranged half-sister. Illyan had approved as well, though her time with Joa was anything but sisterly.

Once Shyeel, with Kasumi proving surprisingly capable as a co-pilot, had gotten our small ship underway, I'd dragged Liara back to the ship's lounge-slash-galley to give her the project I'd spent my time on the _Reliant_ working on.

"All right." I hauled materials out of a crate, laying out the pieces of armor on the galley's small table. "Here's your new armor. It's going to be a bit heavier than I think you're used to, so you might want to get used to it before we arrive."

Liara nodded attentively, looking over the various pieces as I pulled them out. "Is this the latest Musakani model?"

"With plenty of upgrades." My left hand settled on one of the thigh plates. "Technical omni-plates over all of the strike zones, can be disabled if you need to move stealthily. There's an emergency barrier layer in the chest and back plates in case your primary shields collapse, along with medigel dispensers in the back and thighs along with a hypo injector with a few emergency meds."

"Configured for Asari biology?"

I nodded. "This is Mirala's backup set, she's the closest to your height and build and we didn't exactly have the time to scratch up a full suit for you. I extended the legs and arms to match your height, but you'll need to adjust the chest a bit on your own."

She blinked. "Why?"

"Mirala is a bit more endowed than you, you'll need a bit more padding." I replied dryly, hauling out a Lancer coat and tossing it over a chair. "How are you without biotics?"

A bit of color rose to Liara's cheeks, but she didn't otherwise show any embarrassment. "I would prefer to have them, does the armor have a full nullifier?"

"Note quite, those things need too much energy so we had to come up with something else." Pulling the heavy back-plate out, I tapped a small box below the power core. "Secondary power supply hooked up to a pulse version right here, it'll give you about five seconds of defense against most biotics. One use only without swapping the cell out, but that five seconds might let you survive a bit longer against a Banshee or a biotic who gets behind you."

"I see." Eyes focused on the armor before she exhaled and nodded, "Please warn me if you're activating yours."

I grunted, "We will. Are you good on weapons or did you want to raid the small armory on board?"

"I am comfortable with the pistol that I have, but a second weapon would not be remiss."

Flicking my eyes at her, I grunted as I worked out a backup for her. She was tall for an Asari, maybe five-nine, and had the same elegant build as Mirala... she'd have made a good clawball wing player, given her wiry arms and long fingers. Still, another light weapon would probably suit her better than a shotgun or rifle.

"We've got a few modded Watchers that might work." I mused aloud, pulling the rest of the armor out and settling it onto the table. "I'll get my backup out for you."

"Thank you. Do you mind if I change into this?"

I waved a hand towards the cabin we'd given her, and she quickly collected the suit before heading inside. Her cabin door had barely closed before Voya hauled her armored body up from the lower deck, coughing into the half-mask covering her mouth. Kasumi and Liara weren't exactly people that Voya's body had adjusted to, never-mind the fact that they hadn't exactly gone through a decontamination chamber on their way to our rooms, and she was suitably irritated with the both of them as a result.

"Engines still look fine." She reported, her speech a little thick from her medications. "If Shyeel and the thief can fly straight, we'll be at the colony by fourth shift."

"Good." I spoke as I settled into the booth at the table, trying to relax and failing miserably. "Did you go over the data they gave us?"

Voya nodded, shifting over to a bulkhead and leaning against it. "Pretty much all of it's what we already knew. They're isolationist xenophobes, and their Governor thinks that Cerberus is the only good thing to ever come out of the Alliance. We'll have to land in the hinterlands to avoid being shot at, then approach the supposed facility on foot. At least it's outside of the main colony proper."

"That's something, I suppose." Fingers started drumming on the table slowly. "Did Shyeel pick out a suitable IFF already?"

One of her shoulders twitched. "We're now the _Red_ _Starlight_ , a part-time smuggler who operates in the cluster according to Goto. The actual ship is impounded by I-Sec at the moment, so we won't have to risk them being there and making things awkward."

I snorted. "That's something, and a smuggler setting down far away from the colony won't be odd either... they'll assume we're just making a quiet deal with someone. Might have to pay off whoever is running ground control, I think that's usual smuggling practice."

"Goto said as much, she'll handle it." Another rolling, Asari shrug. "Then we'll just have to meet with this Spectre and your contact, then go save a bunch of people who hate us so they can save the galaxy later."

"Yeah... going to be fun. At least we should have Severa's team along." I added. "I know she usually brings a team of other Turians around with her."

Voya grunted, winced, then coughed heavily before managing, "What... ugh, what about your Cerberus insiders?"

"Two of them are coming, and they'll be in armor marked as ours." A rolled my right wrist, "The goal is to conceal that they're with at all, and I doubt they'll be helping much in combat. More helping you hack into the local systems and pulling all the data they can."

"Lovely." The word was a disgusted mutter. "Here I thought they'd be _useful_.. damned headache, I'm not thinking straight... I'm going to drown myself in medication, don't wake me up until there is something I can kill."

I could only sigh as she stalked over to our tiny cabin, vanishing inside without another word. From almost anyone else I would have taken that as nothing more than a throw away comment to reflect how shitty they felt, but I knew that Voya meant it _literally._ As much as I did love her, there were definitely times where I had to question my own sanity for doing so.

Dammit. Why did I like dangerous women so much?

Shaking my head a little, I headed back to the to the last cabin on the starboard side, which was temporarily serving as our armory since Voya and I were sharing a room. A quick run through picked out a few extra weapons for Aethyta's daughter; a Watcher Twenty-Six, a pair of Batarian napalm bombs, and a pair of smoke grenades. Bringing that back out to the galley, I set them up on the table and quickly inspected them for issues.

Working on that occupied me until Liara emerged, fully clad in the uniformed armor of a Silver Blade Lancer, complete with the armored trench coat. The dark navy and silver accents lent her a much more dangerous edge than I was expecting, the still healing burns on her face accentuating the image.

"Kaya." She informed me morosely, picking at the logo on the coat as if she could simply pull it away. "Will kill me if she finds out about this."

That earned her a snort as I stood up, meeting her part way to the table and checking the various sections. "Hated me until the end, did she?"

"Yes." There was a sigh in her words. "For many reasons. But she did trust you, to an extent."

I frowned a little, my fingers tightening the weapons belt a little. "I find that surprising, actually."

Liara rolled a shoulder in an elegant little motion, "Nihlus taught her that Spectre's didn't have the luxury of _liking_ all of their contacts. It wasn't a lesson that she enjoyed implementing, but the information yourself and others provided was important to galactic security."

"Mmhmm." I hummed as I stepped back, motioning for her to turn around so I could check the connection between her coat and the armor. "I'm guessing the fact that I don't care about things like galactic security annoyed her?"

"Amongst other things." She replied quietly, glancing over her shoulder as I tugged a few times on the power cables. "Honestly that was a minor issue compared to her other problems with you, but more than that isn't for me to say."

"Fair enough. Cycle your omni-tool to the armor, try activating the plates."

The Asari did so, blue panels of light promptly appearing around her chest, arms, and legs. I inspected them carefully, looking for the tell-tale flickers of panels not drawing enough power, or the frazzled edges of ones pulling too much, before nodding and letting her shut them off.

"Looks good." I nodded slowly as I stepped back, waving a hand towards the gun and grenades. "These are for you. Gun is modded for armor piercing."

Liara nodded, collecting them and proving that she knew what she was doing as she quickly inspected them before attaching everything to her belt. "I'm honestly surprised, you've been asking far fewer questions than I expected."

"About what?" Turning slightly away, I returned to the galley's booth, settling my armored form into it. "Why you're trusting me to help, about Shepard, about Vakarian? I didn't think most of those were even questions after our little expedition on Illium."

She actually grimaced. "I continue to try and forget that day."

I couldn't help but chuckle quietly, "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad."

"By your very strange standards, perhaps." Her head shook, but it almost looked like she was smothering a smile. "I suppose we did accomplish our objective in the end, with minimal casualties even... but we should focus on our current task."

My amusement faded as I sighed, nodding slightly. "According to Voya, your little briefing packet was light on anything besides what we already know or could easily figure out."

"That was intended, yes." She nodded almost formally. "In case you didn't decide to come with, I did not wish to have excess information for you to take."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not a broker... though I approve of the paranoia."

Liara elected to not respond to that, instead simply moving on. "Unfortunately, there is little more for me to say regardless. Our landing zone will put us near the safe-house that Garrus and Nikita utilized, an abandoned hunting lodge that was purchased with Broker funds. I believe our best initial course of action will be to secure that site while Ms. Goto heads into the colony proper to investigate."

Tilting my head a bit to the left, I mused on that for a few moments before nodding. It was about as detailed a plan as we could have, given the unknowns we were jumping into. "And our contacts? They have the lodge coordinates?"

"Partially. They were given a point one kilometer away, in what is supposedly an open field and should be arriving one hour after we do."

My lips twitched in approval even as my head tipped farther. "You're even more paranoid than you were on Illium. Terminus life is growing on you."

The comment actually made her wince a little, and for a brief moment I saw a measure of self-disgust in her face and body before she blanked her features once again. "You have more combat experience than I do. While I would like to retain strategic direction in our partnership, I believe you should command us tactically."

"All right." I rolled a shoulder, filing away her reaction... and wondering how literal she was being about Shepard finding out that she had worn my colors even for a short time. "I'll want you primarily as biotic support, Shyeel and Illyan are both better with firearms. Singularities and throws to flush enemies out of cover if you can manage it."

She nodded firmly. "Of course. Did you have any recommendations for fighting Cerberus? I'm afraid I haven't engaged their combat teams before, only clandestine agents."

"As far as we can tell, they're mostly optimized to fight Council targets and Traverse pirates. People with high rate of fire, low damage weapons basically." I made a throw away gesture with one hand, "They've got heavy armor with high self-repair, and even though their shields have a very low maximum they've got a ridiculous refresh speed."

She nodded slowly, "Focus fire on single targets, eliminate them before they can get into cover."

"I would actually rather you focus on the agents, if there are any." I shook my head slightly. "Otherwise just flush people out of cover for us. Most of our gear is focused on armor penetration and extreme damage, so we don't really have issues killing the grunts or even Centurions."

"Anti-biotic weaponry?"

My right shoulder rolled. "Some of their operative types had nullification grenades on Carastes, but Trena didn't report anything worse than that. It's definitely possible that they'll have something heavier to keep biotic prisoners if you father is there though."

Liara grimaced, but nodded. We spent several more minutes quickly going over what intel that I had on Cerberus's combat agents, while she added her own anecdotes. While, as I'd said, I was more than confident that we could cut down the rank and file easy enough, the more elite agents would give us more trouble. Equipped in weaved body-suits, much like Lawson, they favored mobility and absurdly strong shields over armor plating. Her biotics would be more than useful in hammering them down to the point where we could kill them, and would save on our technical mines.

Breaking apart as the conversation finished, she headed up to the tiny bridge to talk with Kasumi and Shyeel, while I checked on the others. Illyan proved to have fallen asleep after checking over her own weapons, the equipment scattered around her tiny cabin as I quietly closed the door to let her rest. Taking thirty minutes to myself in the galley, I quickly ran over my own weapons once again.

My custom rifle was loaded with disruptor rounds, with a secondary grenade launcher attached at its mod point, and it's recently revamped VI indicated all of the internal systems were prepared. In contrast, both my Watcher and my hand cannon were still loaded up with incendiary rounds, something I needed to change at some point, while my tech launcher was stocked up with incinerates and overloads.

The only real change to the latter was that I'd bothered to load up a dozen dampening mines in place of as many incinerates, on the off chance that Cerberus had done something _exceedingly_ stupid... like created a Banshee or two. I didn't usually care for dampeners, their area of affect and duration was pitiful compared to nullification grenades... but I felt it prudent to be over-prepared.

That checked, I ran through my other equipment. Two smoke grenades, a flash-bang, a frag, and three napalm bombs all checked out, and I'd tuned up my submission net launcher last week. My war gauntlets activated just fine, and the adapter that Voya had made for my left one dutifully created a fan-shaped omni-shield that covered far more space than the traditional technical panels. With everything looking as ready as it would ever be, I retired to the cabin I shared with Voya.

She started when I closed the door, then let out an annoyed little growl that only subsided when I collapsed into bed with her. Holding her armored body against mine, she drifted back to sleep almost at once, where I needed a little while. Even then I only really drifted in and out of the darkness for the several hours before the gentle alert gong rang through the pinnace. Groaning our way awake, we reluctantly hauled ourselves out of bed and fell into our old pre-battle preparation.

Plenty of stretching, triple checking our gear, Voya taking precautionary medicines, both of us making sure we had stimulant tabs in our helmets, and making sure that Illyan and Shyeel were equally prepared. Once we were all ready, I'd checked on Kasumi and Liara, and then we'd all braced ourselves for the approach to Freedom's Progress.

"Their station is still in place." Shyeel muttered as we came out of FTL, our limited sensor suite easily picking up the moderately sized structure in its low orbit. "Looks like... three big cargo freighters are docked, another is pulling away. Lot of shuttle traffic up and down, but no... wait one. There it is, a _Cairo_ type light cruiser coming out of the atmosphere. Must have been dropping charge."

I grimaced. "Corsair, Cerberus, or Alliance?"

The scarred Asari checked her instruments, "...IFF is broadcasting as the _SSV Nassau_. T'Soni?"

Liara's eyes half rolled closed, flicking left and right as she searched her memories for the name. "Corsair, but compromised by Cerberus."

"Great." I exhaled. "Right, take us in, but have your fingers on the FTL throttle."

"No worries there." Kasumi muttered, her voice entirely lacking its usual bubbly cheer. A quick glanced down confirmed that her fingers were solidly wrapped around the lever that would fling us back to the safety of faster than light travel. "We're being hailed by the station."

Aethyta's daughter reached down, placing a steadying hand on the thief's shoulder. "You know what to do."

The human woman nodded, calmed her breathing, and then opened a line with her free hand and began speaking, "Konnichi wa."

" _Afternoon._ " An affable young man replied, " _We've got you as the Red Starlight... been a while since you've been around. You know the drill."_

"Hai." She replied cheerfully, "Just here to meet some friends, nothing that violates the charter. The usual account still open?"

" _Yeah, we'll be changing it next month though, and bumping the cut by two percent, fair warning."_ There was a long pause as Kasumi manipulated the controls a bit, sending money from a dummy account to the colony's coffers. " _Received, good doing business with you. I know your boss knows the drill, but I have to repeat the crap anyway. No conducting your business in town, no violating the charter, and remember to pay your exit fees and stand for inspection at the station on your way out of the system. Your payment authorizes you to stay for one local day. Failure to comply with anything will see us blow your little ship apart."_

"I'll remind him."

" _Good... wait, tell that wrinkled ass that having a hot Asian pilot is a terrible fucking cliché."_

Kasumi let out an almost genuine laugh. "His ass isn't wrinkled, Control-kun, but it does have a nice little tattoo."

"... _too much information."_ The man muttered, " _Welcome to Freedom's Progress, see you on station tomorrow."_

I felt myself relax slightly as the line cut out, Shyeel quickly pushing the throttle to accelerate us towards the planet. "Let me guess, the guy who actually owns the _Red Starlight_ is young?"

"Twenty five." Kasumi nodded, sinking back into her chair. "But he's famous for changing pilots constantly, all of them pretty little women who he likes to play with. Why I picked his ship."

"Sounds like a stand up guy." I muttered, shaking my head a little. "What happens if we take longer than a local day on the surface?"

The thief shrugged. "We bribe them again and they leave us alone... for a while, anyway. I did a job here once, lasted four days. They got pretty annoyed but I kept paying and they didn't send the gunships out looking for me, but I don't think I could have pushed it much farther than that."

Blinking, I glanced at her. "What the fuck could a place like this have for you to steal?"

"The Governor had a Turian regimental flag from Shanxi." Her expression almost glazed over, "The unit's general was _very_ appreciative to have it back."

I snorted, crossing my arms and staring at the dark world as we approached it. Freedom's Progress was hardly a garden world, being caught in the throes of a deep ice age, with only a thin temperate band around the equator being inhabitable without a lot of technology. But what it did have was massive amounts of rare earths and other valuable minerals, and it had them in fairly easy to mine locations on top of that.

The trade off was that the planet's location in a relay system made it absurdly easy to raid, and the local pirate groups hit the colonists every few months. Since most of said groups were a mixture of Batarians and Turians... it had bred the exact kind of atmosphere that Cerberus thrived in. Someone, probably Harper, had helped the colonists establish heavy defenses and a massive army of mechs to protect themselves and their mines. More contacts in the Corsairs had made sure that there was almost always at least one warship present, with more ready to respond in mere hours if an attack came.

It hadn't stopped the attacks, but it had made them rarer, and the pirates actually had to fight a real battle to get to their targets.

The viewport began to flare with red and orange light as our little ship plunged into the atmosphere, Shyeel guiding us down while Kasumi kept her attention on the sensors, tracking the _Nassau_ as it drifted over the horizon. We all relaxed when she reported that it was out of sight, and Shyeel wasted little time in adjusting our course towards our target landing zone.

"That's not good." The thief reported as we came in a low hover above a broad forest, Shyeel aiming for a cleared zone. "I've got a lot of bodies at the lodge... I think there's fighting there."

"Of course there is." I exhaled, "Goto? Change of plans, I want you to shut the ship down, lock it up, then catch up to us... and bring the medical kit while you're at it. We'll see if we can send you into town after we secure the lodge."

She nodded sharply, quickly taking primary control as Shyeel shifted the main pilot's duties over to her before scrambling out of her seat. While Kasumi landed the ship, the rest of us quickly took the stairwell down to the lower deck, then disembarked into the twilight. Old reflex had us break into our usual pairing, Illyan following close behind me while Voya and Shyeel stayed together and moved to keep pace on our right flank. Liara hesitated, then quickly moved to follow me.

A kilometer through a forest was much longer than it would have been over open ground, but evidently the native flora was something like Terran pine trees. There was next to no underbrush, and our largest obstacle to moving quickly was the rough ground and the sheer volume of the trees.

"Gunfire." Illyan muttered as the whine of the pinnace's engines cut off behind us, "Decent amount... a squad at least."

I grunted, slowing up as I saw the end of the forest ahead, the broad slope of a hill coming into view. "Slow up, Shyeel, Voya, cloak and recon."

The pair kept moving forwards, vanishing beneath their short term cloaking systems while the three of us slowed our pace, eventually stopping about fifteen meters inside of the trees. Perhaps two minutes passed before Shyeel re-appeared, moving in a low crouch as she returned.

"Cerberus is attacking the lodge." She reported, her voice low and fast. "Two large squads, trying to approach from the west. A sniper is slowing them up, but they're flanking hard and moving quickly."

"Garrus." Liara murmured the name.

I grunted, working through a plan of attack. Vakarian was very, _very_ good... but this wasn't his base on Omega. Cerberus wasn't being forced to attack over a narrow direction, and he was just one person. Even if he killed half of them, that would leave plenty left over to storm the building and kill him.

"Forest like this he could play tag with them forever and butcher them... He'd have pulled out if he could. He's got something, someone inside, that he's protecting." I grimaced and shook my head. "Right, let's go with a type three setup. Shyeel, take Voya to the left and onto their flank. Wait for them to make their move, they'll probably use smoke grenades to cover their approach, hit them from the side as soon as they try it. Focus on any snipers you can pick out, then move to the Centurions."

My fellow Reyja'krem nodded sharply, darting away once more, muttering to a still invisible Voya as she moved.

"Liara? Can you flash-step?"

The Maiden nodded her helmet slightly, "I'm not overly skilled in the art, but I can manage it."

"Good." I exhaled, "I want the two of you to flash up to the lodge, right now, from the east. Get inside and setup to help Vakarian hold from the front."

Illyan grunted, "What about you?"

Reaching over my shoulder, I hauled my heavy rifle off of my back, expanding the weapon in my hands. "I'm going to bombard them, cut off their retreat, then link up with Shyeel and Voya. Get moving."

Even with her helmet I could see my Harath'krem grimace, then she forced herself to nod and got moving. Liara quickly moved with her, murmuring quiet questions bout Illyan's capabilities as they jogged a bit more to the east to keep the lodge between them and the attackers.

I let out a heavy breath as I heard the deep thunder of Vakarian's rifle, flicking the side button on my rifle to set it to the long-charge setting. Then it was my turn to get moving, keeping my tech armor disabled as I cautiously moved to the edge of the treeline. The lodge was a sprawling, single-story building on the top of a hill, overlooking both the forest and rolling shrubbery to the west.

My HUD flickered through a few vision modes before I picked out the forms of Cerberus attackers. They were separating into three groups as I watched, and were clearly trying to suppress the lodge even as Vakarian put down another target.

Humming softly to myself, I settled down onto a knee and pulled all three of my napalm grenades off my belt and set them on the ground next to me. A few flicks of my omni-tool projected their fall pattern and distance given the wind and range of the launcher on my rifle, and I carefully loaded the first one into the half-tube that would fling it out.

Then it was time to wait. Signaling our presence now would only see the Cerberus teams change their attack pattern to deal with the unexpected threat, or pull out to re-assess their options. Only when they charged the lodge could we risk hitting them, when they were all stuck out in the open with no real options. And, regardless of Liara's presence... I wasn't particularly motivated to save Vakarian's hypocritical ass.

It didn't take long for them to work everything out, the teams making their move about as I expected. A large team opened fire with a light machine gun and several harrier rifles, hammering at the lodge to keep the defender occupied. While they did that, the remaining Cerberus groups split into two teams, hurling smoke grenades and sprinting hard up both flanks.

I let them move about twenty meters, heard the deep _crack_ of Shyeel's Kishok, took a sharp breath, then got to work. Pulling the secondary trigger, I fired off my first bomb, then snapped an arm down and reloaded the tube to fire again. A few seconds later, my grenades were slamming into the group trying to provide suppressing fire, and the screaming started.

The regular Cerberus soldiers evidently could survive the fire, four of them quickly relocating to better cover even as their heavy armor began to spray something over the burning napalm covering them, but the two operatives acting as snipers didn't have the same level of protection. Both shrieked in agony as the flames ate through their bodysuits and then began to consume their flesh. One went down as a mercy kill, a Centurion killing her even as he hurled himself behind a low rise of earth, while Voya tagged the other in the head the moment she had a clear shot.

Exhaling, I settled my rifle more appropriately for standard fire, then settled in on a target. The Cerberus team on our side was already down two men thanks to Shyeel, and confused shouts were coming up as they tried to figure out what was happening. Their evident leader screamed for them to rush the building, while the Centurion who'd lead the covering fire team screamed at them to fall back.

The end result was that they froze up in the open for several seconds, two rushing forwards, three back, and the last two tried to get everyone to pick one direction. Focusing on the nearer targets, those trying to use the still rolling smoke to flank the lodge, I started firing slow, deliberate shots.

My first was on target, the massive projectile slamming through the trooper's weak barriers to penetrate his armor and explode out of his back. My second shot missed as the survivor frantically began to bob and weave as best he could, his Harrier spitting rounds wildly in my direction as he tried to suppress me. I ignored the inaccurate fire with the disdain it deserved, and put my third round into the right side of his chest.

Shyeel, in contrast, hit all three of her shots, putting down all of the soldiers trying to fall back, while Voya had focused on Centurion and his evident assistant. The latter had died first, to a neat headshot, while the latter had managed to stagger through four hits before her fifth phasic round found his throat and put him down for good.

Voya's voice came calmly across my radio as her target died. " _Shifting fire to the support targets. You going to help us or move to the lodge?"_

"Moving up to support you, have Shyeel flash farther left and we'll trap them in a killzone." I shifted my weapon over to automatic as I spoke, then loaded my smoke grenade into the launcher. A quick moment was all it took to get the angle right, then it was giving me cover to move up in between the treeline and the lodge.

A hard sprint later found me sliding into position behind some kind of decorative garden piece, likely useless for actual cover but good enough to rest my rifle across the neatly stacked stones as I settled into a Batarian style shooting crouch. By the time the smoke cleared, my companions had already killed two of the enemies, leaving just the Centurion and another trapped behind a low rise about a hundred meters away.

They were trying to pin down both of the snipers, but between Voya using her tactical cloak to constantly relocate after every other shot, and Shyeel bouncing around like a Salarian on a caffeine rush, they weren't having any real luck.

"Poor racist bastards." I muttered, waiting for the Centurion to rise up in his distinctive armor. The moment he did I pulled the trigger down, the rifle flash-forging a light round and vomiting it out every second. I limited myself to a four round burst to save on omni-gel, but that was enough to bring down his shields and send red mist flying from his right arm. He howled in pain and staggered as the last shot hit him directly in the chest, not penetrating but still hurting.

Still, it left him in the open just long enough for Voya to settle her own aim and put a round through his helmet. The last soldier tried to cut and run with his superior's death, Shyeel letting him get about ten meters before she casually put a fully charged Kishok round out of his back and through his chest.

"We're clear on the left, covering team is down." I reported, "Status?"

" _Right side is down."_ Illyan replied at once, " _You know she can throw out two singularities at once? Was basically target practice."_

I snorted, "Wasn't much better on this side, they really weren't expecting anyone else. We're headed inside. Who's home?"

 _"Kean."_ A terse Turian voice replied, his flanging voice both tired and annoyed. " _You have medical supplies? I've got wounded."_

"Should be here soon." I informed him, "We've got medigel and drugs to stabilize them until then. Korolev?"

" _Aethyta._ " He corrected, " _Get up here."_

Grimacing, I brought my left hand up and made a quick motion, calling Voya and Shyeel to follow even as I got my ass moving.

The lodge itself was... a bit decrepit. It had probably been a luxurious place a few years ago, but the fake wood paneling over the metal walls was mostly gone, broken apart by rain, wind, and the long weeds trying to work their way into the building proper. The front door squealed horribly with the sound of strained hydraulics as it opened, and I wasn't surprised at all to find a thick layer of dust on the floor, broken only by booted footprints.

Following them through the foyer, then through an empty trophy room, I found Matriarch Aethyta in a small bedroom, her daughter already firmly applying medigel to her father's left leg. The old Asari didn't have a stitch of clothing on her, which boded ill for all kinds of reasons, and had been shot repeatedly. Two wounds in her left leg, another in her right shoulder, both of which looked like they'd been hurriedly patched up and just as quickly bled through.

"Aethyta." I tipped my head as I stepped inside, "You look like shit."

The old bitch snorted, the motion drawing at the still healing scars on her face. "Kid. Polite as ever."

"I try." I replied modestly, moving closer to look over Liara and get a better idea as to how wounded she was. Besides the obvious three gunshots, bruising and electrical burns became clear across most of her body, especially around her neck. "You want me to work on her shoulder?"

"Please." Liara replied tersely. "Give her additional anesthetic, a low dose, then clean out the failed bond."

Grunting, I safetied my weapon and set it aside, then yanked my helmet and gloves off before getting to work. I wasn't a skilled medic by any means, but I could stop a leak and apply medigel as well as the next person... goddess knew I'd had enough practice at it.

"So." I asked quietly as I jabbed a hypo into her scaled flesh, applying a local before I started cleaning out the old pieces of gel that hadn't bonded properly. "What the fuck happened?"

"Leviathans." She muttered the name as a curse, not so much as grimacing as I kept working. "Must have given the bitch some kind of navigational tech, or a relay hack. Soon as my ship was in the lane a Republic cruiser came through, perfectly on top of us. Took out our engines before we could even react. Cored our decoy, goddess's own luck that the ship carrying the data-feeds made it through at all. Bitch sent husks in to board us after that."

I grimaced, leaning back as I grabbed my medigel container off my belt. "Banshees?"

"Three." Aethyta closed her eye, looking more exhausted than I'd ever seen her. "Crew and I killed two but the third... was too much."

"They..." I swallowed a little, "Get anything out of you?"

"No." Her scarred face drew into a tired frown, "Didn't even try and meld with me, left the torture to the goddess-damned humans... and yeah, that shit worries me too. Figured they'd have someone at least try a bloody rip, get the feed codes or to find my daughters."

A clatter of noise made me look over my shoulder, Kasumi hauling a heavy pack into the room while Vakarian tiredly shuffled in after her. I quickly motioned to the Matriarch's shoulder, then backed away to give the thief room to work. Kasumi seemed to know about as much as I did, but Liara quickly began to rattle off detailed instructions on what she needed and where she needed it.

Stepping back farther, I glanced at the Turian. It was always hard to tell with his species, but Vakarian looked at least as tired as Aethyta, and made a slight motion with his head. I nodded, grabbed my equipment and weapon, and then followed as he backed out of the room, closing the door to give them peace and quiet to work in.

"Your people are watching the perimeter, I can fill you in on the rest while they patch her up." He informed me, shuffling back towards the front door.

I nodded slightly, pulling my armored gauntlets back on while keeping my helmet tucked under an arm. "I'm guessing that T'Ravt gave Aethyta over to Cerberus for some less than wholesome reason?"

Vakarian let out a chirping sound of irritation, though for once I didn't think it was directed at me. "Nikita and I were here on recon with a half squad, scoping out the Cerberus facility when we picked up an emergency chip that Aethyta has in her ankle. They'd brought her down in the colony proper and moved her via ground vehicle to the facility. We had a recon drone that indicated they were going for stealth over firepower, so we decided to try and rescue her."

"Ambush?" I guessed.

"We got her out of the car and were pulling back when they hit us." A hand rose to rub at his fringe. "They... took two of our people, and Nikita, killed the others. They were cut off from us and with Aethyta wounded, I had to make a decision."

My lips pressed together. Cerberus had Korolev... that was... bad. "You fell back here and commed Liara for reinforcements."

He nodded tiredly as we neared the front door, though he slowed to a stop rather than go back outside. "Then I went out to try and lure them away while Aethyta focused on staying alive. Took out two teams by ambush and sniping before they got smart enough to only search from the air. They hit both of the other lodges in this area yesterday, empty decoys, then found us this afternoon."

I nodded again, crossing my arms. "All right... I'm going to need everything you've got on that facility if we're going to get Korolev out of there and shut it down, and I'm going to need to know that you aren't going to shoot any of us once it's done."

Vakarian regarded me, his mandibles twitching once before he spoke. "I still don't like you. What you've done, what you stand for, the people you associate yourself with. Spirits, if there was any real justice in this galaxy, none of you would be alive. But... Liara was right. We don't have the luxury of liking the people we work with, not if we want to save Nikita, not if we want to save Shepard after."

I lifted a single eyebrow, not changing my challenging stance. "Your word, Vakarian."

A subharmonic growl came out of his barrel chest, but he forced himself to nod. "Allies, until we're all safe and away from here."

"Same." I replied, relaxing minutely. "How many soldiers they have left?"

"Can't be more than four, maybe five squads." He replied tersely, still obviously agitated. "Nothing we can't handle if we're smart about it, but time is going to be a factor. If they decide to move their prisoners and shut the facility down, we won't be able to find them before they finish whatever it is they're doing to her."

Assuming they weren't already finished with her. Flicking my eyes up and down his body, taking in his slumped stance once again, I grimaced a little. "You have any intel on the Corsair cruiser in orbit? If they've got marines aboard and jump down to help we'll be overwhelmed."

"I've got a plan for that, we just have to breach the facility." Vakarian shook his head. "We can head out as soon as Liara is done-"

"We'll head out in a few hours." I cut him off, "You're about to collapse on your feet, you need _some_ sleep. We'll relocate back to our ship once our contacts land, then shuttle ourselves to a better place to attack the site."

He blinked a few times, clearly not having expected me to go there.

"They won't pull out right away, not if they still have half their forces plus the _Nassau_." I exhaled, "Not with you and Aethyta both still here. They'll take their time to plan another attack, an actual in-depth kind of operation, then put it into motion. If we can time our attack to go off at the same time as theirs, we might have far fewer targets to deal with."

Vakarian seemed to frown, then twisted his head around as lights flickered past the windows. "Shuttle."

I grimaced, hauling my helmet back over my skull. "Voya, that our guests?"

" _Yes._ " She replied, not sounding at all thrilled. " _IFF and logo matches what we were told to expect, we've got them in our sights... and we just got a ping from Severa's ship, they're en route and will land at the pinnace."_

"Good. If there's more than two of them in the shuttle, start shooting." Stepping past Vakarian, I shoved the creaking front door open, and saw him follow on my rear cameras as I headed outside.

Liara's efforts to disguise our actual location had evidently failed, as an all-black Kodiak was already settling onto the front grounds as I came outside. Drawing my pistol, I kept it low, trusting that my companions would be appropriately emplaced to deal with anyone stepping out. It took them about a minute to shut the engines down, the hatch very slowly opening to reveal two figures with their arms raised slightly.

"It's just us." The larger of the two grunted, his voice low. "We're not suicidal, Ul Kean."

"We'll see." I replied, motioning them to step forwards with my free hand, keeping my fingers tight around my pistol with the other. "Counter sign, if you please."

"Illium is where her faith cracked, and where my own drowned." He intoned, stopping about a meter away. He was in a lighter set of the usual Cerberus armor, and very carefully moved his hands to pull his helmet free. "That good enough?"

I grunted as I saw Operative Genosa's Mediterranean features in the setting sun. "And you?"

The female sighed, dressed much the same as her partner, but her helmet fell away to reveal a short-cropped shock of red hair. Whens she spoke, it was in unaccented Highborn, her tone and body language shifting to show amusement in the Batarian fashion. "I'm not pulling my armor off just to show you the scars on my stomach."

Snorting, I holstered my weapon, "Shyeel? Illyan? Check their shuttle, we'll probably need it to bounce over to the pinnace. You two, come on inside. We've got a battle to plan."

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communication Log**_

 _Shaaryak, N: I fail to see how my location matters when it comes to the operation of my branch._

 _Massa, A: Now you're just being obstinate. You can't fault me for being concerned that you're going to stay on Khar'shan instead of returning to Illium, and why am I hearing rumors that your regiments are loading up to return?_

 _Shaaryak, N: I'm hardly going to be remaining here long term, it is a temporary matter only and I do not see the need to explain myself to you._

 _Massa, A: As the senior commander I see plenty of need, Shaaryak. The protection of your family's lands and assets on Khar'shan is not a corporate problem. We need all of our forces on hand to fight the Collectors in the Traverse._

 _Shaaryak, N: I've already released the warship hulks I was awarded to you, they're being towed to Xentha. The two regiments I am keeping on the homeworld would hardly make a difference either way._

 _Massa, A: Considering they are almost entirely Asari? Of course they bloody could make a difference! If Solus's countermeasures fail we'll need every biotic that we can get our hands on to keep the swarm off of us._

 _Shaaryak, N: By the time my people were loaded into ships and en route, the battle would already be-_

 _Massa, A: Your people should already be on their way. You've been nothing but a Highborn pain in my ass since this campaign began, more concerned about the Hegemony than the Blades._

 _Shaaryak, N: I'm sorry, was the concept that we were hired_ _to save the Hegemony too advanced for your midcaste brain?_

 _Massa, A: ...will you, or will you not withdraw your troops to Omega within the next standard week as I instructed._

 _Shaaryak, N: I have already established a contract with the Hegemon to continue providing security in the capital, my troops will remain. I will remain until such time as my personal and family business is concluded, where I will return to Illium to oversee the drafting of additional forces._

 _Massa, A: Very well._

 _-communication ends._

 _Massa, A: Lieutenant ul Roath! I want a live line to Omega Command. Now._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 9: Barroom Brawl**_

 _And the stage is set, the initial pieces are moving, and in the next chapter we'll be meeting Prometheus._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	34. Act 3-9: Barroom Brawl

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 _Author's Pre-Note: I'm leading this chapter with the Nikita point of view from Those Who Fight, after realizing that Marcuss was correct in stating that the information in it was very important for the central story. If you've already read it, feel free to scroll down to where Cieran's section begins._

* * *

 **Act III: Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Barroom Brawl**

 _Date:_ 05-26-2186

 _Location:_ Freedom's Progress, Attican Traverse

* * *

 **The Huntress**

 _(Nikita Korolev)_

"Come on Nikita, up you get." A cheerful basso was accompanied by a broad hand grabbing my slender limb, gently hauling me up to my feet. "We Russians have to stick together."

I could only groan in reply, trying not to sag against Jaime's broad frame. He stank of sweat, entirely reducing the level of interest his well built body might have caused. From the lack of shameless flirting as my covered breasts rubbed against his side, I probably didn't smell much better. Or maybe we were both just too damned exhausted to play our usual game.

"Come on." He urged, gently pushing me back into motion. "Can't let that chatty Mongol bitch or that angsty Scottish asshole beat us, can we?"

"Yeah... right." My eyes managed to focus in time to see our competition, the other two members of our 'cabal' out ahead of us. Both looked to be as exhausted as we were, their white clothing run through with sweat, but were relentlessly pushing themselves onwards towards the distant finish line.

Groaning again, I pushed off as best I could, stumbling into a shuffling jog as I got moving again. Jaime quickly lumbered along in my wake, his black beard twitching as he panted. We were in the last leg of the day's training exercise, which had been even more brutal that usual in that we'd had to _double_ the usual run-swim-run-shoot-run-spar-shoot-run pattern that our trainers had been running us through. Once we'd reached the usual finish line, we'd had to double back and repeat the entire goddamned process.

A glance behind us made me relax a little, the next team was still extremely far behind us, cementing our continuing position as the best of the cabals in the project.

The run to the end was little more than a tired, whimpering blur of motion as we ran through the long grass of Thessia, completing our circuit of the T'Ravt ancestral grounds. Despite Jaime's best efforts to get us moving faster, Ciarán and Enkhtuyaa had long since collapsed onto the ground before we arrived, a tastefully dressed Lady Mishi smothering a grin as we stumbled across the finish line to drop beside them.

"I see Team Five continues its tradition of excellence." The Matriarch's youngest daughter shook her blue head in bemusement, noting our time down on her omni-tool. "Your monopoly of the leave passes continues for yet another week."

I weakly pumped a fist into the air, which drew a breathy laugh from the head of our training.

"Bonus markers as well," She continued, "For all of you. Kerensky's refusal to leave an ally behind, Korolev's analyzation of what targets to take first, Enkhtuyaa's patient appraisal of the tides, and MacKinnon's... creative interpretation of the rules against sabotaging your competition."

I blinked at the last, then covered my eyes with a dirt covered hand as I groaned his name. " _Ciarán_..."

"Oh fuck off." The wiry Scotsman muttered back, his rapid breath not diminishing his accent in the slightest. "We bloody won, didn' we?"

I couldn't exactly argue with that, so I settled for trying to catch my breath and ignoring the stabbing pains running through my lungs. Our physical training was by far my least favorite part of this, especially since it was all callisthenics and endurance crap. I much preferred the investigative and analytical training courses that I was in, even though I wasn't with my team for those.

Not that I could make any sense of the engineering crap that Ciarán studied, or the medical texts that Enkhtuyaa read, nor keep up with the commando training that Jaime was receiving above and beyond our basic combat regimens. But then again, that was the entire point. Five teams of four specialists each, all of our skills intended to work in concert with one another to serve the Republic that had saved us from fates worse than death.

No... that wasn't right... was it? They'd-

 _Betrayed us!_

I jerked at the sound of my own voice, blinking to find myself in another place, another time.

"I'm just saying." Jaime drawled, his heartbeat languid in my left ear, my head resting on his bare chest. "It took you long enough."

My skin flushed at the double entendre, "It did not!"

He laughed, a hand idly tugging the sheet a bit higher over our naked bodies. "I've been flirting with you for the last six months, I was wondering if you just weren't into men after I saw you ogling Tuya."

If anything, my flush worsened. "At least I don't constantly stare at the huntress who picked me up. I thought you were just trying to make her jealous."

"Zero?" Jaime snorted, "I like the girl, don't get me wrong, but she's not you. Although... if you're open to that kind of thing, a threesome might be-fuck!"

I pulled harder on his chest hair, just to make my irritation clearer. "No. No threesomes."

A snort that didn't come from either of us made my eyes widen, as Scottish drawl echoing in our team's room. "That's a goddamn relief, I don't have any brain bleach around."

"Ciarán." Jaime groaned, his own pale skin reddening as he looked over my shoulder. "Get out."

"Last time I checked, you weren't our leader." The voice retaliated bemusedly, footsteps echoing as he began to move about the room. "That would be the girl burying her face in your chest, and whose pale ass is sticking out of the sheets and leaking onto the floor."

Oh god. I hurriedly yanked the sheets over my rear, mortified beyond words. " _Ciarán_ "

"Oh calm your bloody shit girl. I'm Xenthan, remember? I stopped caring about seeing people having sex by the time I was twelve. Bloody lowborn prostitutes not understanding that beds are better than alleys..."

Shockingly, that didn't make me feel any better. " _Ciarán._ Out! You can get your fucking book later!"

The sound of pages snapping together preceded his words, more footfalls moving towards the door. "Already got it, but fine, fine, I'm leaving. I'll tell Enkhtuyaa that we aren't welcome for a while if you want to go another-"

Jaime all but snarled, "Out you fucking dick!"

Quiet, mocking laughter was the only reply, the sound cutting off as the door slid open and then closed behind him.

"I hate him." I muttered. "I hate him _so much._ Why are we friends with him again? We should just shoot him in the next live-fire drill."

"As tempting as that is," Jaime sighed, "He's too useful to kill and he knows it. Plus Tuya would complain that we took her man-toy away. Still... he had a good idea."

Blinking, I pushed myself up a bit to better look at him. "What idea? Wait, no, I'm way too-"

 _My Jaime... he was once so..._

One moment I was being rolled onto my back, feeling my legs spreading of their own accord... the next I was somewhere else, my mouth was moving without input from my mind, and panic thrummed in my chest as I realized I was merely an observer in my own body. "You're being paranoid, why would she lie to us?"

Ciarán snorted, pacing furiously across the showers. The tinny whine of his cobbled-together jammer making sure that no one could hear us, our team disguising our clandestine meeting under the cover of cleaning ourselves.

"Why wouldn't she?" He growled back, "We were all desperate, all in shite situations."

"Enkhtuyaa?"

His Mongolian lover sighed, her exotic, lanky body leaning against one of the stall doors. "I agree with him; We still don't know what happened to teams one and three. Yeah, they couldn't keep up and we knew they'd wash out... but why won't anyone _tell_ us what happened to them? And if we're supposed to serve the Republics, how come we only ever work with House T'Ravt?"

I winced at the points, then glanced at my own partner. Jaime grimaced, his normally jovial features drawn as he rubbed a hand across his shaved head. "Shit... I don't know. T'Ravt is a hard old bitch, but she's treated us fair, and we're finally being let out on an actual mission in the Traverse next month."

I swallowed, "I hear a 'but' coming."

He nodded tiredly. "But they've got a point, love. Where's House Vasir? Or House B'Sho? Where are the Republic Intelligence agents who should be evaluating us? Fuck, where are the Spectre agents she said we might end up supporting?"

"And then there's... all of us." Tuya murmured, glancing almost worriedly at her lover. "I mean, we're mostly discreet, and I guess they'd give us some leeway about relationships since we're the best team... but why hasn't anyone said anything positive or negative about it? It's like they're ignoring it entirely."

My hands reached up to rub furiously at my face "All right, say I buy that she's not being honest with us, and that... whatever happened to the other teams worries me too... what do we do about it?"

"You're our leader." Ciarán reminded me, his wiry body slowing its pacing as he regarded me seriously, his body unconsciously stiffening into stiff Batarian mannerisms as his worry saw him default to old behavior. "What do you think we should do?"

I let out a long, tired breath. I'd been worried at least as long as the paranoid ex-slave, my investigative training letting me piece things together as quickly as he could. But I'd also been doing everything I could to keep up a brave face so that I could be the rock that my friends needed. As much as they tried to hide it, none of them were exactly pillars of stability... Tuya and Ciarán especially.

And we _owed_ Matriarch T'Ravt so very much... she'd killed the men about to rape me, rescued Ciarán and Jaime from slavery, and healed a dying Enkhtuyaa. But.. dammit. Tuya's point on the sex had been one that I'd missed. Asari were open about relationships, sure, but they were also very chatty about said relationships and almost never shy about digging for details and seemed to adore teasing each other about flings.

So why hadn't any of them said anything about me and Jaime, or Ciarán and Tuya?

"We keep our ears open." I decided. "For the next three weeks. We don't ask stupid questions or act unusual. Jaime? I want you to chat up Zero about the mission, see if she knows where we're going and what the plan is. Say you just want to be prepared in advance."

He grunted. "She'll buy that, we're always trying to get a leg up on the other teams as it is."

"Right. Tuya? I want you to be your usual bantery self. Talk with the other teams a lot, see if any of them are acting... off." She nodded sharply at that, and I turned to Ciarán. "You and I are going to do some discreet poking around in the databases we're allowed into. We'll stick to the records of teams one and three, our excuse is that we're seeing what made them fail so we can avoid their mistakes."

 _We knew something was wrong... we tried to figure it out... we just didn't understand how fucked we were._

Memories rose, then faded, then rose again.

"They definitely didn't just leave." Ciarán muttered from behind his antique book, the battered red leather and faded golden tree marking it as Tolkien's opus. "Tuya says Alexia saw the huntresses guiding them out to the shuttle pads one at a time, very late night stuff."

I frowned, covering the expression with a drink of water. The pair of us were enjoying our 'leave pass' we'd earned from the last training run, taking advantage of being permitted to lounge in the Matriarch's beautiful gardens to speak privately. The fountain we were leaning against should block the listening devices that we were sure were around, so long as we spoke quietly and kept our mouths covered to avoid lip reading.

"She get any other details out of her?"

"Yeah. They were... staggering around a lot, each of them had a handler helping them move." He replied quietly. "Like they were drugged."

Teeth bit into my lip as I fought to avoid grimacing. "Making them forget the training?"

"If we're giving her the benefit of the doubt, which I'm not."

"Yeah..." Unpleasant emotion roiled around in my chest before being ruthlessly pushed aside. I couldn't afford emotion right now, I needed cold logic. "Your vote is that we try it, then?"

"Yes." The word was barely a mumble. "Tuya agrees."

Air slowly escaped my lungs. "So do I. I'll tell Jaime.'

 _I failed... we failed... why didn't we realize it sooner... Prepared for months instead of weeks... We were... I was their leader...I should have done more... I failed us all._

I groaned as consciousness slowly returned, feeling hands tiredly pulling me free form the wreck of the ship. Memories came back as Jaime pulled me to safety, our mission, our attempt at escape.

For a few glorious minutes, we'd thought we'd made it. We'd landed on Carastes three days ago, and started trekking through the planet's wilderness towards our target. Once we'd found them, we'd spent a few hours preparing for both our actual orders and our personal mission, making our move just after local midnight. We'd taken down the tiny pirate operation in fifteen minutes, the Batarians not expecting the commando attack, secured their pinnace, and then signaled for the extraction team. The moment the four House commandos had arrived, had lowered their guards... we'd hit them as hard and fast as we could. They hadn't expected it, hadn't had their barriers up, and had died stunned and confused we'd cut them down from behind.

Jaime, as our only pilot, had quickly gotten the pirate vessel airborne, using the Turian ship's guns to vaporize the shuttle the commandos had arrived in before likewise taking out the backup shuttle even as it tried to boost away. We'd gotten airborne and swung around to the north, heading for the planet's only city, our plan to ditch the obvious ship and lose ourselves in the crowd of pirates, slavers, and other criminals. From there we'd try and steal a new ship, and then make our way to the Alliance, to see if we could find someone there to protect us.

Then something had hit us, _hard_ , and our engines had failed completely. Our eezo core had stayed online just long enough to prevent us from dying instantly when we hit the ground.

"What..." I coughed as my lover hauled my up into his broad arms, carrying me farther from the crash, following Tuya's slim form as she waved us into the trees. "What hit us?"

"Laser." Ciarán spoke from somewhere behind us, "From low orbit, I think. The cruiser wasn't supposed to be anywhere nearby..."

"They lied then." Jaime replied, his voice flat. "They didn't trust us as much as we thought they did."

Tuya grunted, glancing back, "Or something tipped them off. We're competing with Asari in spy-craft, keeping things hidden. It was always a long shot."

"Focus..." I coughed again, trying to get the smoke from my lungs. "Focus. We keep going north, away from the crash site. Tuya? You got your medical gear?"

"I do, soon as we find a good spot I'll need to-urk!" A blue flash slammed into her faster than my eyes could track, a huntress in black armor and leathers bearing her down to the ground with a sword at her throat.

Ciarán reacted on reflex, his pistol snapping up to shoot the Asari while his other brought his omni-tool to life with a gesture. Before he could use either the tool or his weapon, a second blur took him down, and a second later I found myself tumbling out of Jaime's grasp as more commandos announced their arrival with displays of biotic force, aimed weapons, and bared blades.

"Clever. Very clever, little monkeys." There was nothing warm or fun in Mishi T'Ravt's voice as she appeared above my prone body, a boot coming to rest on my throat. "If you had timed it a few minutes either way, you might have even made it."

"Do we dispose of them, mistress?"

"No." Our teacher shook her head once, her smile cruel. "Mother will want to speak with them herself. Bind them for the trip home... and give them a dose of compound three."

 _Pain. Pain. So much pain on the trip home. So many drugs... so many toxins... Mishi indulging her sadism. Beating us. Invading our minds, murmuring our dark secrets for everyone to hear._

 _I will kill that bitch if it's the last thing I do._

Everything was cold. I hugged my knees to my chest, staring at the white floor of my cell. I couldn't see the others, but I knew they were nearby, equally as trapped, equally as doomed.

"You acted earlier than I thought you would." Matriarch T'Ravt mused, making me glance up to see her beautiful features gliding past the tiny plastic window set into the blank door. She was dressed strangely, in Asari medical scrubs rather than in one of her usual elegant gowns. "I was going to remonstrate my daughter for taking so many of the House with on nothing more than suspicion, but instead I must reward her paranoia."

I didn't bother to respond to that, simply lowering my head to my knees again. Neither did the others... at least, I thought they didn't. The rooms were sound proofed, to keep us isolated, from talking with one another. Just like how the pure white walls, floor, and ceiling were intended to weaken our mental fortitude.

"I had intended to continue the charade for far longer, but the absence of my best team on such a simple mission will not be one I can easily explain away to the other teams. Perhaps I will allow them to thank you all for changing the schedule and cutting short the illusion of normality." She continued, her voice shifting to be heard from speakers somewhere in the cell. " _Still, do take solace. I did not lie when I told you all that you had been chosen for something greater, for the chance to become more than the miserable little aliens that you were born as_."

" _Matriarch_." A cool voice spoke, another Asari greeting her mistress. " _We are prepared to begin the process on Subject Nine. Lord-Who-Shatters-Stars has consented to take their turn in preparing the chorus."_

 _"Excellent."_ The Matriarch all but purred. A moment later the light above me flickered off, making me blink and glance up in time to see the entire right wall of my cell flicker to life with an image.

Jaime, nude, tied to an operating table with numerous Asari bustling purposefully around him. Incision marks were already prepared across his skull, and more than a dozen IV lines were connected to his arms and legs. His body was still, but his blue eyes were wide, and I could tell that he was uncertain, afraid.

" _I will give credit where it is due, you were my best team, the ones with the greatest potential to truly become what I needed._ " The tall form of Cynthi T'Ravt appeared in the image, stepping over to caress Jaime's chest. " _But we all must make sacrifices, and our initial tests seem to show that the more strain on a subject's mental faculties prior to the process yields better results."_

Mishi T'Ravt drifted in on his other side, dressed in the same medical equipment as her mother, though she'd bothered with the full mask and had equipment around her eyes. " _We're ready mother."_

 _"Good."_ The elder Asari gracefully stepped backwards, giving her daughter and assistants room to work. " _The process, dear humans, is not quite perfected. Insanity and death are more than likely, so I cannot waste those with the greatest potential. But you, dear Jaime... a common thug is not what I truly need, and so you will serve in another way. You will weaken the wills of your friends, and serve as the first example of my displeasure with your actions."_

My limbs began to tremble, as I whimpered, wanting nothing more than to stop watching, but unable to tear my eyes away.

They began with a greybox implantation while he was still awake. Four commandos kept him restrained biotically as he tried to scream, tried to thrash, tried to do _anything._ I kept myself still for a few minutes, then screamed and tried to break the screen with my fists, my legs, my elbows, _anything_ to stop seeing it. Hearing it.

I retched god knew how many times, then collapsed in a corner, covering my ears and screaming as well to try and drown out what they were doing to my lover. Another huntress arrived soon enough into that attempt, her biotics slamming me into a wall, locking me into stasis, _forcing_ me to watch as they continued.

Once the first procedure was done, the various lesser Asari had cleared out, leaving only the Matriarch behind. She had drifted around Jaime's trapped body, then carelessly removed his gag. He lacked the breath to do anything other than pant and gasp, sobbing quietly in agony... and then her eyes had rolled to black, and she'd touched her fingers to his temples.

My love screamed. Screamed without reason, without air, without anything resembling restraint, and he _kept_ screaming until nothing more than pained gurgles came out.

Things became blurry through the tears and sobs. I saw the Matriarch leave. Some kind of dark orb was inserted into the room from above, hovering above Jaime's broken, twitching body. It glittered with some kind of inner light, and his body abruptly ceased all motion as it flickered and glowed. It didn't even seem like he breathed until it was pulled back, his body collapsing limply on the stretcher.

Matriarch T'Ravt came in again, after that, once again melding with the broken man... though this time he didn't scream. He didn't even seem aware that it was happening.

 _He was just the first. Then she made us watch another. Then more... pain. Mishi, working on us. Laughing as she hurt us. As she... forced us to do things._

 _After... weeks.. months... time didn't have meaning, she didn't let us keep track... it was Ciarán who died next. She... she taunted Enkhtuyaa with it, with his role in her... game. He was... he was going to be made to lust after someone else. Some Asari. She... said consummating it would kill them both. That he would die in agony. We could hear Tuya screaming even through the walls... we wondered if they could hear us when Jaime had died._

 _Then it... it was our turn, on the table, with the orb. But she'd learned... to sedate her experiments. Breaking us first helped, but pushing us too far... she learned from what went wrong with Jaime, with the fact that he was insane from the start, that he remembered bits and pieces. Enough to hate her, enough to remember who Zero was. Enough to flee and plot against her._

 _Stupid old bitch... didn't realize we were already broken._

 _I was sedated. I don't remember what she did, not exactly._

"Liar."

 _No... no please, We don't remember more... don't make me remember more!_

"Her exposure is at eighty percent of the human baseline sir, we aren't authorized to go farther without approval."

A grunt, somehow echoing. Everything was echoing. "You think she's telling the truth?"

"The machines say so. Still, there's a lot of missing parts... we should still force to at least ninety, maybe ninety-five percent and see what shakes loose." Percent of... darkness lies beyond, my truths were just fragile lies, salvation lay in destruction... no... no that wasn't... that wasn't right.

"I agree, I'll ask the boss. Get this thing back to its cell."

More grunting. Hands touching me. Bare skin on metal. On cold stone.

I came back to myself as I retched, vomiting into the hole in the ground that passed for my toilet. The cell wasn't like the Matriarch's, it was more primitive, plain metal walls and a simple force barrier to keep me trapped inside.

"Oh good, it's still alive." A voice drawled from beyond the glowing blue wall. "You still sane?"

 _When we get out, we're going to kill them. All of them._

 _Agreed._ I spat the last bits of bile out of my mouth, then lifted my head up to glare at the two men beyond. Both wore white jumpsuits with black and gold trim, and the one who liked to taunt me sneered at my expression.

"Still sane enough to hate, I see. More promises that we're all going to die?"

 _Garrus will come. Aethyta will come. They'll massacre you all... and I will laugh as you scream._

I didn't realize that cynical Nikita had spoken that through my lips until the two men laughed, "That old whore. We crippled her before you got her out and you know it. Hell, we've got teams hunting her down right now... we know she's on planet, wounded, and has only that crazy Turian for help. It won't be long until she's back in her own cell."

"Maybe this time the Professor will let us indulge a bit." The other scientist muttered, his eyes flicking up and down my naked body with disdain. A petty cruelty, something to distract me, hurt me. Like the lack of a proper toilet, of the shit rations I was fed. Cerberus was trying, I would give them that, but they had a long way to go before they could match the Matriarch, much less Mishi.

 _Idiots, we've lived through worse than anything they can dream up._

"Not like I'd even want to touch this hairy Terminus bitch, at least with a blue you don't have to care about that."

"Christ Tim, always thinking with your dick. That blue would mindfuck you senseless if you touched her, that's why only mechs hauled her around." The two men kept bickering as they turned, vanishing out of a cell block that was empty but for me.

 _They'll come for us. They will. It's been a week, they'll have brought in help by now. We have to work out, as much as it hurts. We have to be ready._

"Yes." I murmured to myself, rising a hand to wipe at my face. I'd been bleeding from my eyes and nose again, though at least this time there wasn't anything from my ears or gums. I shook my head a little at the sight, then forced myself onto my back to start doing crunches. "We have to be ready."

* * *

 **The Silver Blade**

 _(Cieran Kean)_

The Cerberus facility was set against a small mountain, more of a very large hill really, and was comprised of several buildings all connected by skywalks. In the center was a large, brick-like barracks, completed with a pair of GTS towers rising from its upper level. On either side were smaller buildings, little more than entrances to extensive laboratories located deep underground to isolate the experiments within.

At the base of the little mountain was the newest building, a three story square whose purpose Garrus wasn't sure about. His best guess was that it was either a new lab complex for less-risky experiments, or simply a storage facility holding the supplies needed to keep the prisoners alive. Said prisoners were being kept in two small 'camps' on either side of the new structure, with fenced walkways connecting their pens to the labs.

The eastern camp held a mass of Vorcha, the creatures even more emaciated than usual for their kind, their claws having been ripped off before their fingers were cauterized to prevent them from regrowing. The western camp, in contrast, was occupied by a mixture of Batarians and Turians. Maybe two dozen in total, none of them wearing more than rags, and all of them clearly badly malnourished. Both camps were surrounded by automated guard towers, turrets ready to execute everyone within on command.

Our plan developed rapidly once Severa had arrived and been briefed on the situation. We'd waited for the _Nassau_ to be over the horizon, and then made a short 'hop' flight in our various shuttles to get closer to the facility, using the colony's broken terrain to obscure our approach as best we could before landing on the far side of the mountain. From the fact that we survived and no alarms started screaming, we assumed we'd pulled it off.

"...and there she goes." Genosa muttered from the shuttle's controls, watching the orbital sensors as the _Nassau_ completed another orbit. "Her assault shuttles are away, with her fighters, we give them three minutes and they'll be on the lodge."

I grunted, leaning over his shoulder. "We go in five minutes, let them disembark and waste some ordnance bombing the place before we make our move."

He nodded, glancing at Shyeel, who had taken the co-pilot's seat. "Pass that to the Spectre. We'll sweep west around the mountain, she can go east, remind her to hug the goddamned ground if she doesn't want those lasers to vaporize her team."

My friend snorted, but started up a laser-link and quickly muttered the instructions. Smiling a little, I turned around to glance over everyone else. Besides Illyan, Voya, and Chambers, I'd only kept Kasumi on my team, sending Liara and Garrus with Severa, mostly to give her team a more powerful biotic than the single cabalist that the Spectre had brought with.

Aethyta, for her part, was still aboard the pinnace, now hidden in the trees about a half-mile north of us. Nice as it would have been to have her ridiculous biotic power with... she could barely walk, and even a single nullification grenade or dampening mine would have let any idiot kill her. As not-fond of her as I was, her dying would also be a headache far beyond what I was willing to tolerate at the time.

"All right." I spoke up, giving out the final reminders. "We have to hit this place fast and get control of the heavy turrets. Chambers, Voya, that's going to be on you two to hack when we get that far. Goto, while they're on that, you'll be trying to find Korolev's location. The rest of us will cover you three during that process."

Kelly and Kasumi both nodded, while my friends merely shrugged and checked over their weapons once again. I narrowed my eyes as I saw Voya checking over a Watcher, reaching to my belt and scowling as I failed to find mine. Athame's ass, when the fuck had she stolen that?

"And," The Cerberus psychologist asked, her voice stopping me from saying anything to my girlfriend. "Once we have control of the turrets?"

"We stick with plan three until I or Severa decides otherwise." I informed her, "Get what you can, but be ready to relocate your ass if shit blows up on us."

Illyan snorted. "Which it will."

"Which it will." I agreed with a sigh, trying not to think about how fucked up this was liable to become. "So work fast."

Kelly grimaced, but nodded again, fiddling a bit with her omni-tool. A few breaths later, her black armor shifted color, brightening somewhat to a deep navy while the orange trim shifted to silver. Making a clucking sound with my tongue at the reminder, I turned back around and reminded Genosa to do the same.

Rudimentary disguises in place... it was time to go.

"Hang on." Shyeel growled as she took the main controls, stabbing the buttons to boost us off. Gripping tightly onto the bulkhead, I stared out the front window as dark soil and shrubs streaked beneath us. Perhaps sixty seconds later, we abruptly banked hard to the left as Shyeel hurled us around a tower that rose from the mountain, red-orange light flaring somewhere as a twitchy defender triggered a laser that missed us high, the emitter unable to depress to properly target us.

I hadn't really expected to take them entirely by surprise, but I still scowled in annoyance at the evidence that they were on alert for an attack.

"Landing!" I shouted as I pushed myself backwards, Illyan, Voya, and Kasumi already upright and having their guns in hand, while Chambers was sensibly staying put until Genosa was ready to escort her. Drawing my pistol, I rolled my shoulders to relax them as Voya punched the door controls.

The heavy metal panel slid aside just as the shuttle came down hard on top of the barracks, Severa's brick-like Turian craft coming down hard twenty meters away, at the base of the other GARDIAN tower. My boots hit the roof about a heartbeat ahead of Illyan's, both of us shifting to stand back to back as we scanned for targets.

"Nothing up here." She reported, "Shit, lots of movement on the ground boss. Engage?"

I grimaced, that had to be perimeter patrols swarming back to defend their command center. "No cover up here, hatchway... right where Vakarian said. Come on."

The pair of us got moving, trusting Voya and Kasumi to watch our backs as we approached the ground-to-space tower protruding a good five stories above the barracks. Illyan easily hefted up her Spitfire as I cautiously hauled the tower's service hatchway open, revealing nothing more threatening than a pair of ladders and an open lift shaft.

I took the lead, sweeping my omni-tool out, running a quick search program that didn't reveal any traps. "Illyan, take left, I'll go right. Voya? Hold here and wait for Shyeel and Cerberus. Goto-"

"Already on it." The thief replied as she bounced past me, a brief burst of flickering sparks shrouding her before she became an indistinct blur in the air. While Illyan simply flared her biotics before dropping out of sight, I had to actually scramble down the metal rungs as quickly as I could.

It wasn't a long descent, just one floor down to a service duct of some kind. Plenty of equipment, not much room to maneuver, not the best place to be stuck when invading a hostile compound.

"Severa, this is Kean." I spoke as Illyan got moving, me following quickly in her wake. "We're inside, headed east."

" _Confirmed."_ The Spectre replied promptly. " _My first team is in as well, we can see you down the hall. Headed west."_

A quick glance at my rear camera confirmed hulking figures in the far distance, illuminated only by the red tech-panels on their armor. Nodding in approval, I followed Illyan the short distance to the end of the hall on our end, glancing around her to see the doorway open and then close of its own accord.

I'd give Kasumi her due, she didn't waste time. By the time the others were working down the ladder behind us, she was already rattling off information over our comms.

" _They know how we came in, you've got three centurions setting up five meters to the right of the door, and an agent with a vibro-sword just showed up on the left."_ She murmured quietly. " _She ducked into a side-room, probably waiting to hit you from behind after the troops get your attention. Who do you want me to hit?"_

"I'll take the swords-woman." Voya replied before I could utter a word. "Distance to her room?"

 _"Four meters, it'll be on your left, door is still open. I'll blind the centurions in fifteen seconds if that's all right with you, Kean-san."_

"Go for it." I replied, my omni-tool already online as I adjusted a barrage program. "But keep clear of them. Illyan? I'm going to go out first, step across and suppress. You move up and take them."

Massive arms hefted her light machine gun up, adjusting the controls. "Got it boss."

" _Three...two..."_

I smacked the door controls at the same time as I heard Kasumi count off one, and was stepping out into a brightly lit hallway when the popping-ring of a flash-bang went off. Sweeping my arm to the right, I triggered the tech program and kept moving, clearing space for Voya and Illyan to come out after me.

Three Centurions were reeling from the grenade's effects just where they were supposed to be, some kind of deploy-able cover having risen from the hall's flooring but doing them no good as they staggered and clutched at their heads. My tech launcher promptly made their day worse, two overloads whipping out in rapid order to rip their barriers away before a pair of incinerates killed one and left the other two screaming.

Illyan finished them off with tight bursts of her gun, her long legs carrying her towards our targets as she put an extra few shots into each of them to make sure they were actually down. The echoing thunder of her heavy weapon made it hard to hear what was happening behind us, and I glanced at my rear camera in time to see what looked like a Cerberus Phantom collapse forwards with most of her face missing

Behind her, Voya shimmered back into existence, having evidently cloaked and shifted to a spot where she could put five rounds from my submachine-gun right through the agent's head at such a close range that her shields hadn't been able to activate.

"And we're clear." I snorted as my girlfriend promptly dropped to a crouch over the body, hands working the armor away so she could rip the Phantom's dog tags off of her neck. "Come on, we need a map if our guests are going to find what we need. Voya, I want det-packs trapping this intersection."

She nodded sharply, "I'll need someone to watch while I set them. Illyan?"

Said Asari groaned, but fell back and out of the way while Shyeel lead our Cerberus traitors out into the main hallway. The three fell in behind me as I got moving, stepping over the dead Centurions, following the short hallway towards the front of the building. Thankfully, there weren't any side rooms to check, less thankfully, that probably just meant the entrances to the other rooms on this floor lay ahead.

"Goto?" I exhaled as I approached the corner, slowing my pace a bit. "Sitrep?"

" _Good news and bad news Kean-san."_ Her voice was barely a whisper, _"The good news is that CiC is closer than we thought, just past an open store room, through a galley, and then you're there. Bad news, the galley is fortified."_

I grimaced. "Numbers?"

" _Ten, all soldier types."_

A full squad... lovely. "They have line of sight down the hallway?"

" _Hai."_

Well shit. "Right, find a good spot and jump in when you think you can get away with it."

Kasumi merely clicked her radio in response to that, sensibly choosing to remain as quiet as possible.

"What do you think?" I asked quietly, glancing at Shyeel as the Asari moved up on my left.

She rolled a shoulder, placing her pistol on her belt before reaching back for her Kishok. "You feel like playing flicker-fish?"

I didn't, but I also couldn't think of a better idea given that Voya and Illyan were busy, and I wasn't about to involve Chambers or Genosa in a firefight. We needed them alive, and definitely needed them to not be identified if we could help it.

Nodding tiredly, I pressed myself up against the corner, keeping my omni-tool and pistol ready. As soon as Shyeel nodded to me, I let out a sharp breath, then spun around the corner and broke into a sprint.

An overload streaked out from my launcher, and I managed three shots before I dove into the storage room, but my aim was off thanks to the barrage of fire hammering into me in turn. I managed to clip one soldier in the arm, making her yowl in pain and duck back, but definitely got the worst of the exchange. By the time I'd made it to cover, my shields had collapsed along with half of the tech-panels across my chest thanks the torrent of rifle and shotgun fire that hit me.

"Athame's fucking..." I swore as I heard Shyeel's Kishok crash out a round. "You get a Guardian?"

"No!" She shouted back, "A centurion is down!"

I flinched a little as a carnage round whipped past, detonating at the end of the hall and making Shyeel curse.

" _Two guys with shields, five troopers, and a centurion."_ Kasumi reported, her voice more audible as the gunfire covered her. " _The wounded pulled back into the command center... um, she's shouting for them to smash the computers."_

...fuck!

"Flash bangs and smoke!" I snapped out, "Voya, Illyan, forget the traps, we have to move!"

"Cie!" Shyeel, at least, tried to stop me. "Don't tell me you're going to-"

I threw my one flash-bang as hard as I could around the corner, counted to two, then threw my fragmentation after it before spinning around the corner and charging eight people by myself. I mused on the sad fact that this _wasn't_ the stupidest thing I'd ever done even as I brought my left arm up, activating the gauntlet and the fan shield attached to it to protect my head.

The grenades went off in quick sequence, my visor going to black for a hard second as it preserved my sight and hearing against the stun grenade's detonation. It cleared up just in time for a shotgun round to hit my sputtering shields, and then a second hammered into my little omni-shield as the Guardian broke into a lumbering counter-charge.

Behind me, I heard Shyeel let out a vicious oath before a heavy round screamed past my helmet, slamming into the man's exposed shoulder. He screamed as his right arm and shotgun went flying in a spray of blood, spinning in place as I darted past him, putting a pistol round into his throat as I did. Somewhere ahead, I heard a chattering light weapon, Kasumi evidently making her move.

Entering the galley, I made it another step before the Centurion was on top of me, a shock baton hammering into my right shoulder as he let out a rasping battle cry. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I tried to get my hand cannon up but the Cerberus non-com was too savvy to let me end the fight instantly. He was already spinning back to his left, a practiced move that let him knock my pistol aside with one arm, while the other wound up for another heavy blow that I barely manged to take on my left shoulder, the intact tech panel there buckling against the impact.

Snarling, I lowered the shoulder and surged forwards, hammering myself into his chest and driving him backwards and into one of the table benches. His knees hit hard, and he sprawled back with a curse of his own.

"Sir!" I snapped my head to the left in time to see a wounded trooper, he looked like he'd caught most of my frag grenade, struggling to line his Harrier up with my skull before I could execute his boss, and shifted my weapon to snap-fire across my body. His head snapped back as my oversized pistol put a round through his visor, and then I was stumbling back again as the Centurion planted both of his feet into my gut.

Bringing my left arm around, I used the omni-shield to catch the quick strike from his baton, then growled as his free hand grabbed my right wrist and shoved my pistol away from him. I heard him let out a dark chuckle, and felt my eyes widen as he dropped his baton and went for a grenade on his belt.

And then his neck was spraying blood over me as a blur shifted past him, Voya appearing as she bounded past, actually running along the top of the table. "Honestly! We're on a time limit here!"

"Shut it!" I snapped, taking care to grab the dying man's grenade before he could finish trying to martyr himself. A quick glance around confirmed that the others were down, Kasumi having opened up from behind them, and then Shyeel having biotically charged in when they'd whirled around to deal with the thief.

The Japanese woman was collapsing onto a bench even as I watched, cursing rapidly and not at all cheerfully while clutching at her left arm. Chambers, thankfully was already running into the room, pulling at pouches on her belt while Genosa hovered behind her.

That handled, I shook my head and pushed off, chasing after Voya as she nimbly hit the ground in a roll and vanished into the command and control center. Illyan and Shyeel both appeared in bursts of biotic light a breath later, leaving me cursing as I tried to catch up. All three of them fired several rounds in rapid sequence, ceasing just as I got through the doors.

"Cleared." Illyan reported unnecessary, stepping over the now-dead woman I'd wounded at the start of the engagement.

"So I see." I glanced around, taking in the armored windows overlooking the pens outside along with the numerous consoles and dead technicians. Voya had already thrown one of the corpses out of a chair, settling into it and working rapidly to stop whatever they'd done. Shyeel looked over her shoulder, then shook her head and focused on checking the two doors that lead out of the room. "Voya?"

"...got it." She exhaled, relaxing a little. "We lost... looks like communications logs were their priority, but the control systems are still here."

"Good, see about resetting the towers." Reaching up to my helmet, I adjusted my comms. "Severa, Kean. We've got the CiC, took out a squad and a half."

Instead of the Spectre, Liara T'Soni's cool voice replied across the system, " _This is T'Soni, the Spectre is occupied, but we've cleared most of the second floor and cut power to the prison turrets. We've eliminated at least two full squads, minor injuries only."_

I nodded, even though she couldn't see it, and fought the urge to relax, instead heading over to a console and dropping into the seat. "Good. Checking for your girl right now... what the... dammit, give me a moment."

Cutting the line before she could say anything, I shoved the chair back and shouted, "Hey! Need you three!"

It took them longer than I would have liked, but our three guests arrived in relatively short order. Genosa showed enough sense to shut and lock the door behind him, then quickly ushered Kasumi over to an open seat and took over treating her arm. For her part, Chambers quickly moved to the seat next to me, hesitated for a moment, then started flicking through the system.

"Oh." She muttered as she hit the block I'd found, "Yes, I can override this, but we have to bring communications down first or they'll know an Operative cleared it."

I grunted, "Voya?"

"Kind of busy." The growl came as her eyes focused on the main screen, sensors flicking across a map of the colony. "The Corsair shuttles and fighters are already on their way, and the _Nassau_ is shifting orbit. I can get the lasers shooting, but that cruiser is an issue."

"Shit." I tapped my comms back open, "Severa, we need your backup plan."

This time the Spectre herself did answer, with a tired curse. " _Spirits... the Councilor is going to brand my carapace for this. Triggering my beacon."_

"Thank you." I replied, actually meaning it. Political bullshit wasn't a punishment I'd wish on... well, not on Severa at least. "We're bringing the GARDIAN systems up right now, will have communications down in a moment."

" _Good."_ There was a booming roar from a shotgun, immediately followed by a yowling scream, and then a second shot that cut said screaming off. " _I think we've dealt with the main guards, but there might be more in the labs. I'm going to stay with your plan three until you have more data for me."_

"Confirmed you're securing the building, give us a few minutes." I replied before killing the line. I'd just done so when Voya let out a pleased little sound, and red light began to flare outside. The console in front of me abruptly shifted as she passed control of one of the towers to me, the targeting systems lighting up with incoming craft. One fighter was already boosting hard for space, the other trying to abort its flyover even as I stabbed at the controls to lock onto it.

Voya had evidently done the same, both towers hurling crimson beams into the small craft before it could try and jam our targeting equipment. The craft came apart as the lasers stabbed into it, the pieces crashing somewhere in the forest. Farther out, the heavy shuttles likely carrying far more marines than I wanted to deal with quickly executed their own abortion plans. All three banked hard to the right and dove low, vanishing behind the same hills we'd used to approach.

"Shit." Voya mewled, "Setting them to automatically fire on Corsair IFFs... ah, there they are."

I smirked a little as she expanded the sensor grid to high orbit, tracking the _Nassau_ abruptly changing course. The reason for the frantic shift became clear as a Hiearchy battle-group came out of FTL in high orbit, already within knife-fight range. A Turian battlecruiser promptly began to lash at the human ship with her massive broadsides, a trio of smaller heavy cruisers appearing in sequence. Disdaining the human warship, they began to accelerate towards the colony's station, probably to disable and inspect it.

A touch brought up the open communications channel, and I snorted as I heard an arrogant Turian Admiral ordering all civilian shipping to cease acceleration and prepare to be boarded... and that resistance from either shipping or from the colony would be met with lethal force. My smile grew as the shuttles abruptly re-appeared on sensors far to the east, roaring almost directly upwards as they clawed for altitude.

Leaning back in my chair, I watched the icons until they vanished into FTL, no doubt fleeing for the Relay to scream that the Hierarchy had just attacked the Alliance. Which, considering that the Alliance still refused to admit the Corsairs even existed, was bound to go over _very_ well with the Council... especially when Severa brought them evidence that Cerberus had more or less co-opted the group and used them to try and kill a Spectre.

The _Nassau_ , at least, wouldn't be joining them. By the time Voya had found and killed the bases's QEC array, the light cruiser was venting atmosphere and drifting helplessly alongside the much larger Turian ship.

"All right." Chambers murmured as she used her override codes to access the classified data, saving us however long it would have taken to hack into the system. "Miss Korolev is shown as still here, in Lab Three. That is the building directly in front of us."

I exhaled, more than a little relieved. I hadn't wanted to imagine Garrus or Liara's reaction if she hadn't been alive. "Shyeel? Can you pass that on to them? Chambers, do you have any data on the other labs?"

There was an annoyed sigh, but she dutifully started to relay that on to the other group while Kelly kept going through the data. "Yes... it looks like they're... wait." Her plain helmet cocked as a warning message abruptly popped up and covered her screen, "Someone is still in lab two, they just detached the hardlines."

"All right, which way to lab two?"

She waved an arm behind her, towards the locked door that Illyan was lounging near. "That door, down to the second floor, then east until you hit the skywalk."

I nodded, "Right, Genosa, Goto, you two stay here and keep the doors locked while Chambers keeps pulling the data you need, we'll go clear out the lab. Wait, is there a fail-safe we can activate from here?"

"There was," Chambers shook her head as Genosa stepped around me, the taciturn man focusing on the data scrolling in front of the psychologist, "I think that's why they cut the lines, so you couldn't just incinerate whatever is in there."

Illyan groaned as she turned to the door, keeping her gun on it as she checked the door's controls to see if anyone was on the other side. "Typical. You sure they'll be good with Goto's wound boss?"

I glanced at the thief in time to see her nod, waving her good hand at some kind of sleeve that she'd pulled over her wound. "I have patches, can still cloak if I have to."

"Good." I glanced between her and Genosa, not really needing all that long to make up my mind. "You're in charge while we're gone. You decide it's time to leave, then it's time to leave. Get back up to the shuttles and wait for us there."

She nodded, leaning back in her chair before shimmering and vanishing once again.

Leaving them to it, my companions and I moved out, taking a moment to lock the door behind us. The stairs were clear, and the only thing we found on the level below us was corpses sprawled across the floor or slumped against the walls. The locals had evidently tried to use the main corridor as their defensive line, utilizing the entrances to their various living quarters as cover.

It hadn't really gone their way, and I shook my head as I realized that a good third of the dead had obviously been killed by Severa's oversized shotguns.

" _Kean, Severa."_ The Spectre in question called just as we neared the skywalk, " _We've cleared the ground floor, I sent the Broker agents with two of my people to retrieve their VIP. Do we have intel on lab one?"_

Chambers jumped in at that, her voice harder than I'd ever heard it. " _Yes. Lab One is Leviathan experimentation, whatever you do don't go down the lift. They have an active orb and thralls down there. Kean, Lab Two is Reaper indoctrination analysis, they've got some kind of device down there."_

I let out a Batarian hiss between my teeth as the four of us slowed to a stop, Illyan and Voya covering the skywalk's door while I replied, "Husks?"

 _"Unknown, a lot of the logs were deleted before Miss Chi stopped the program."_ She replied, " _I do have baseline timing data for Reaper indoctrination... you_ can _head down there without too much risk, but I still wouldn't recommend it. You should be able to activate the fail-safe from the surface labs, if they disabled it somehow I'll try and find what you need to trigger it."_

"Confirmed." I glared at the closed door, having a pretty good guess as to what the prisoners had been being used for. "Let me know when they find Korolev, and anything else you find in the system."

Illyan opened the hatch, Voya covering her. The door had barely slid open before a heavy burst hit the Quarian's left shoulder, her submachine-gun retaliating at once as she slipped left to get into cover, Shyeel moving with her while I shifted behind Illyan.

"Two troopers." Voya informed me dismissively as she ducked back, her shields evidently still intact."Make-shift cover only, looks like a table."

I grunted, reaching up and tapping Illyan on the shoulder. "Drop them."

The Asari nodded, hefting her heavy weapon up and adjusting it for a moment. Then she leaned around the corner and cut-loose on full auto, incinerate mines streaking out every other second to accompany the armor piercing rounds.

After four seconds she eased off the trigger, stepping back as her weapon vented heat. "Well... that's a mess now."

Shyeel snorted, triggering her short-duration cloak as she stepped around Voya. "I'll recon."

I nodded as Illyan took another step back, giving me room to move up and take her place. As she'd said, the room at the end of the skywalk was little more than a savaged mess, with what looked like pieces of Cerberus soldiers mixed together with smashed and burning parts of furniture, along with some wrecked equipment.

Twenty seconds later, Shyeel re-appeared ahead of us, motioning with one hand while keeping her pistol up with the other. Not wanting to stay in the skywalk longer than we had to, the rest of us darted across the little bridge, entering the wrecked entry to the labs. The room had evidently been some kind of waiting and preparation area, with benches set into the wall next to lockers holding what looked like basic environmental suits.

The only other exit was a decontamination room, which struck me as entirely pointless considering what they were messing with in here. Voya didn't need any instructions, quickly getting to work hacking the thing to open on both sides without leaving us trapped inside. While she did that, my radio came back on, Liara sounding as infuriated as Chambers had been.

" _We have Nikita, she's not in good shape."_

I grunted quietly, "That bad?"

" _She's... unstable._ "

" _We are not unstable!"_ I blinked as Korolev snapped at her, " _We're angry and it's our turn for some fucking payback._ _Ciarán,_ _tell her to give us a gun!_ _"_

I blinked a few more times, Illyan and Shyeel both turning to stare at me through their helmets. "Korolev... you're referring to yourself as multiple people now."

There was a scoff. " _You're supposed to support us, not nitpick. And stop speaking that whore language, we liked your acc-Garrus! Don't you... dare... asshh..."_

" _She's sedated."_ T'Soni reported as the slurring faded. " _There was a log file next to her cell, they've been exposing her to Reaper tech. An experiment to see if that can be used to breach Leviathan indoctrination."_

Illyan sucked in a sharp breath, and I winced. "Doesn't sound like it did her any favors."

Chambers' voice came across at that, " _It didn't. I found an intact log from four days ago... she started openly bickering between different personalities after two hours near the artifact, and they planned to expose her for up to six."_

 _"It gets worse."_ Another female voice chimed in, Severa joining in. " _We found a datapad in lab one. They've been indoctrinating prisoners in both labs, then swapping them around to see what happens when exposed to the other type. They started with Vorcha, then moved on to other species."_

Shyeel muttered a low curse, then spoke up, "There weren't all that many prisoners outside. Have they been husking them as well?"

" _Yes."_ The Turian replied bluntly. " _They're in reinforced cells underground... the scientists tried to release them to fight us, and the things butchered them. A Centurion managed to seal the lift shaft before he went down, so they're trapped. We're prepping the fail-safe to bury them permanently."_

I shook my head as Voya finished, both heavy doors for the decon-room swinging open as lights flashed warning red. I signed for her to jam the door on this side open with something while I spoke to the others, "We're breaching lab two right now. Chambers, you have anything else?"

" _Plenty that we'll have to show the others once we get back, they've been working on humans too. Slaves they rescued from the Traverse and Hegemony, and then..."_ Her pollyanna voice became something vicious. " _You can guess. There's also four Asari, 'given' to them from Matriarch T'Ravt to experiment with using Reaper tech to clear out Leviathan influence, and worse."_

Illyan glanced at me again, "Worse?"

" _Yes."_ She replied flatly. " _I... the head operative hasn't been found yet, he might be in your labs. Please take him alive for me."_

I pursed my lips at the implications of that sentence, then nodded slowly. "We'll see what we can do. Heading in."

We formed up once again, Illyan and I moving to our usual spots out front while Shyeel and Voya hovered a few meters behind us to watch our backs. Moving through the decon room, we entered an unlit hallway, our HUDs cycling vision modes to let us see. We didn't really hesitate, but none of us were fond of dark tunnels even now, and I realized that we'd tightened our formation up considerably after just a few meters into the hall.

The first two rooms proved to be medical rooms, complete with autopsy slabs. One room was empty, but the other held five dead Batarians in a neat row. Two were still open, clamps holding their skin back to expose their organs, and the top halves of their heads had been removed along with their brains. The non-husks had all had their eyes removed, which implied torture considering the species in question, but if there were more wounds I couldn't see them with everything else that had been done.

"Comparisons." Shyeel growled as she tossed a plain tablet onto a dead Batarian's feet, the man looking normal against the dissected, limbless Cannibal on the next gurney over. "An indoctrinated of each type, a healthy baseline, and then a husk of each type. Trying to work out the exact differences."

"Copy whatever data you find, forward it on." I shook my head, turning back to the hall, moving to join Voya in standing guard. A few moments later we were moving again, checking the rest of this floor. It was fairly unremarkable beyond the labs, two storage rooms filled with medical crap and a lounge complete with half-eaten food and magazines.

Ignoring the lift that we found, we instead moved down a short stairwell to the next level down, and promptly ran into what was left of the Cerberus team as we tried to move into some kind of larger room.

I swore as tracer rounds whipped past, ducking back around a corner. "Dozen plus, maybe four agents, a guy in heavy armor, and..." I risked another glance, "Eight or nine unarmored types. Scientists with pistols, spread out across some kind of command room."

Shyeel snorted. "Their boss is probably in armor, stun grenades and overloads?"

"Works for me." I replied, bringing my omni-tool up while Shyeel took Illyana and Voya's flash-bangs. Our mini-barrage began a few moments later, my mines and her grenades flying into the room as we worked to suppress the defenders. The sporadic suppressing fire abruptly cut out as men and women yelped in surprise and shock, and then Illyan and Voya were moving between us to rush into the room.

The latter vanished beneath her cloak, while the former blurred in a biotic charge, her heavy weapon thundering a heartbeat later as she arrived at her target.

Moving into the room after them, I saw Illyan more or less cut an operative in half at point-blank range while another staggered and tried to get his rifle pointed in the right direction. He only had goggles, and had probably been badly shaken by the flash-bang, his burst of fire missing wide. Rather than bother to keep using her unwieldy weapon, Illyan simply dropped it and then decked the man in the throat.

Another agent went down with an almost animal scream as Voya's daggers sank into her back, the Quarian re-appearing as she corrected her aim and finished her off with a thrust into her heart.

The sound was evidently enough for the others, the last agent and the Centurion throwing their weapons away and holding their arms wide.

"We surrender!" The latter spoke, a woman's voice echoing through the helmet. "We're done!"

I pursed my lips, settling my pistol in her direction. "Where's the head guy?"

Her helmet dipped towards a nearby scientist, and older, balding man groaning as the shock from the overloads began to wear off. Carefully moving to stand over him, I kicked his shoulder to drive him onto his back. A faded name-tag on his expensive looking lab-coat read 'Abrams'. Keeping my gun on the surrendered officer, I used my other hand to get my radio online.

"Red. The head guy, his name Abrams? Older, balding, ugly jowls?"

" _Yes."_ Chambers replied promptly. " _You have him?"_

"Him, a few other scientists, an operative, and a Centurion." I supplied. "Who do you want?"

There was a long pause, _"Who is the Centurion?"_

"Female, tall, built, bald." I rattled off. "Nameplate reads Church."

Another long pause came, then she replied diffidently. " _I would like to speak with the Centurion and Doctor Abrams."_

"We'll get them to you." I grunted, cutting the line. "Right, Miss Centurion. The fail-safe?"

She twitched a hand very slowly towards a console near the back of the room. "You need my key, and the doctor's. It will detonate charges in the lift shaft, and flood the facility beneath us with gas. Timed bombs will go off in an hour to clear it out after that."

I nodded, and motioned for her to get on with it. She proved to have a defined sense of self-preservation, keeping her right arm far from her body while her left rose up and undid her helmet. She proved to be reasonably attractive and dark skinned, though her shaved head detracted a little for me. A moment later, she'd pulled her dog tags out of her armor, revealing a key-strip on her necklace.

Setting it onto the ground, she knelt and slowly pulled a similar chain from around the still stunned Doctor's neck, placing it next to hers before backing away.

"Voya, go ahead and grab those and check the console." I instructed, keeping my pistol up. "Illyan, take her and the doctor back upstairs."

My Harath'krem grunted, then flicked her hands in a silent question. I shook my head once, "You against it?"

She snorted. "After what I saw upstairs? No. Come on girl, get that idiot upright."

The Centurion frowned a little, glancing between us before wincing. She probably knew what was coming, but stayed silent as she hauled the old man up to his feet. He was blinking rapidly and shaking his head, clearly still not present as she carefully guided him out of the room. Illyan followed a meter back, her Spitfire leveled at their backs.

There was a quiet sound, and I glanced over at the operative who'd surrendered, the man coughing again. "What about the rest of-"

He reeled as my hand cannon put a round through his forehead, stumbling once as his body tried to process that most of his head was missing before simply collapsing. Shyeel started shooting immediately thereafter, her lighter pistol executing the remaining scientists. The last few had recovered enough to realize what was happening, futilely trying to either beg or crawl away.

I watched as she finished them off, stepping over the last body and holstering her pistol. "Well, that was fun."

I hummed in reply, glancing over at Voya. "It will be if we can clear out this place. Voya?"

"Looks like she was telling the truth... I'm adjusting the settings to make sure that there isn't a trap-door, shifting the timing a bit so we don't blow ourselves up." She replied, having already inserted the control keys. A quick finger stab later lead to a low rumble beneath us, her head nodding. "Lift is closed. Gas will vent in an hour, bombs will set it off an hour after."

"Good. You get any data from the systems?"

Voya snorted. "No, they had more than enough time to clear their systems."

"Figured." I sighed, "Come on, let's get out of here."

The three of us got moving, catching up to Illyan and her charges on the skywalk. Doctor Abrams was fully conscious and muttering rapidly that this couldn't be happening, casting fearful glances over his shoulder at us, and whimpering as the Centurion steered him around the various corpses still covering the ground.

His blubbering only got worse as we reached the command center. Severa and Vakarian were both present, and the former had attached a holographic icon of her office to her left shoulder. The pair glanced at us, then at Chambers as she removed her helmet, her face actually streaked from tears.

"Kelly?" The old man slowed to a stop, "You... you're _helping_ these... _things?"_

Chambers stared at him, then spoke in a perfectly level voice. "I joined Cerberus to protect humanity. Not to vivisect living beings, or torture them, or experiment on them just to curry favor with people even _worse_ than ourselves."

"Still a hypocrite, still naïve... some things never change." He muttered. "I did what I did to protect and preserve our species, and I would do it again if it meant saving human lives."

"I know." She replied quietly. Then, without hesitating, the little psychologist drew her pistol and put a bullet into his head from a meter away.

I lifted an eyebrow as the Centurion stepped aside, letting the body drop to the ground. "Well. That was wasteful."

"Yes." Chambers replied, lowering her weapon slowly. "But... I had to do it. Jesse, when did you get assigned here? I thought you were with Ajax Cell after they shuttered Project Vesuvius."

The Centurion, Jesse Church apparently, winced. "I was, got hit in the leg when we hit a slaver's camp out near the Rim, the big raid two weeks back. General transferred me here for some light duty while I recovered."

Kelly regarded her for a long breath, then nodded slowly. "Did you know what they were doing to the people you were rescuing?"

"I didn..." Her voice trailed off, and the tall woman seemed to deflate. "I... I guessed, just... didn't ask questions. I was on thin ice as it was, after Vesuvius, and..."

Green eyes blinked, then the Cerberus operative seemed to sigh as she brought her pistol back up. Before she could pull the trigger, her bodyguard seized her arm and quickly shoved her weapon back down.

"Kelly." Genosa spoke quietly, his accent voice soft. "We've killed enough of our own people, our own friends, today. We'll take her back to Tartarus with us, and let the boss make the decision."

Chambers half closed her eyes, then sucked in a long breath and nodded. "If you could get her out of her armor and cuff her, I would appreciate it"

"And," Severa spoke up at that, "If you could be fast about it? I need to call down soldiers to clear the prison camps and get them treated, but I'd rather not have to threaten my own people into keeping their mouths shut about seeing all of you. Do you have the data copy?"

A form shimmered into existence next to Kelly, though the red head looked more annoyed than startled as Kasumi stepped forwards to hand the Spectre a data drive. "Here you are, Severa-dono."

The Turian woman nodded as she took it, nodded again to me, and then headed out of the western door, already muttering orders to her team to head outside and do what they could for the prisoners until the medics arrived.

I glanced at Vakarian as she departed, "Korolev secured on the shuttle?"

He nodded. "We'll pick up Aethyta from your pinnace, then take our own shuttle out of here if that's all right."

"No issues there." Rolling a shoulder in a shrug, I glanced at Chambers, "You going to be good as well?"

She twitched a shoulder staring at the body of the man she'd shot. "I... have to talk with you first, actually, since... what we found here confirmed our fears."

I grimaced but nodded, having more or less expected that. "You mind doing it on our ship? And preferably far from here."

"I do not... as the Spectre said, the sooner we leave, the better."

* * *

 _ **Silver Blades Communications Log**_

 _T'Laria, T: Athame's ass Ayle, would you bloody slow down? All I got out of that rant was that you're fucking pissed at Shaaryak._

 _Massa, A: I'm beyond 'pissed'. Where is Cieran? I need to talk with him about the proper method to remove her from the corporation._

 _T'Laria, T: ...fucking seriously? What the shit did she do?_

 _Massa, A: Just wake Cieran up or drag him in from whatever he's doing._

 _T'Laria, T: Can't, he's not on station. Broker mission for his team specifically, dragged his ass off station a couple of days ago. Been fucking dark since then._

 _Massa, A: Sacred Pillars... of course he runs off now. Where is your bondmate?_

 _T'Laria, T: She's out with the fleet, they're... dealing with more shit that's just going to piss him off. Collectors changed tactics again._

 _Massa, A: …details._

 _T'Laria, T: Either they're fucking smarter than we thought or someone warned them that people were setting up to ambush them, Geth scout flotillas hit four different colonies this morning, including both of the ones we were hoping to catch the bugs at._

 _Massa, A: *heavy exhalation* This week just continues to get worse. I'm assuming your ambush plan is out?_

 _T'Laria, T: Very. We fought the fuckers off, and the Ha'diq moved in and smashed their ships, but yeah, we'll need a new idea... and now all of our timing and prediction shit is fucked too. Might be stuck just lurking around Horizon like a bunch of goddess-damned idiots._

 _Massa, A: ...all right, I'm at the Maferath relay and transferring to an Eclipse ship. I'll be at Omega in two standard days. Inform Cieran if he survived whatever that old bitch dragged him into. And make sure whatever room you put me in has at least five bottles of my usual._

 _T'Laria, T: Will do._

* * *

 _ **Next up is Chapter 10: Next Steps**_

 _And we get some more action in the main story, and the pieces are largely in place for the next story (which is going to be another beast of a fic... probably longer than either Vengeance or Einherjar). The next and last chapter in this act is going to be a flashback chapter, covering just what Cieran, Liara, Ghai, and a few Cerberus agents got up to on Illium several months ago. After that, our epilogue will revolve around the aftermath of what went down in this one, plus more details about what Cerberus was up to with Project Prometheus. The two might actually bleed together a bit, not sure yet._

 _Either way, Chevalier will soon be done, the bridge from Einherjar to Hellhounds complete._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Micha - Next chapter should answer that for you.

5 Coloured Walker - Reading a little too much into it, she was remembering how much she got paid.

Guest - Cieran might really not like his friends keeping him in the dark, or tricking him, but he's had a tendency to forgive people he cares about going all the way back to Arrival and Terminus.


	35. Act 3-10: Next Steps

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Act III: The Traverse**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Next Steps**

 _Date:_ 05-27-22186

 _Location:_ SBS _Reliant,_ deep space, five light years from Freedom's Progress, Attican Traverse

* * *

Our plans changed shortly after we lifted off from the planet, receiving overlapping transmissions from Omega, Chambers' shuttle, and T'Soni's shuttle in such rapid sequence that I had to put the latter two on hold while I listened to Trena's report on what the fuck had happened starting the day before yesterday and lasting into this morning.

Someone, either the Matriarch, Illusive Man, or a Geth scanning program, had realized that we'd been trying to quietly setup an ambush for the Collectors and warned the bugs. They hadn't known _exactly_ where we were, so they'd dispatched small Geth flotillas to hit a number of colonies across the Traverse. Horizon, Ferris Fields, Sudeten, Cali's Retreat, Hainan, Pike's Place, and Nagato had all been attacked as a result. Most had mostly seen light recon forces, the Geth largely restricting themselves to exchanging a few ranging shots with the locals, scouting out the defenses before pulling back.

The exceptions had largely been the worlds that we were on, with the Third Regiment smashing the Geth into paste on Nagato with trivial losses. The First and Second had had rougher times on Sudeten and Hainan, having been hit by groups that had included cruisers loaded with plenty of combat platforms, but the arrival of our allied _Ha'diq_ had seen the attackers destroyed in fairly short order. Unfortunately, that had also informed the Collectors of just where we were, and Trena had grumpily reported that the satellites that we'd left near Pike's Place had gone dark six hours after the fighting had really gotten going.

Ghai hadn't seen any point in sticking around since the Collectors had obviously gone after easier prey, and had ordered her forces back to Omega while releasing the _Ha'diq_ to resume their usual operations. The sole exception had been the _Reliant_ and a few escorts, which she'd dispatched to link up with us at Freedom's Progress to provide back-up if we'd needed it.

Since Korolev and Chambers both wanted to talk with me in person as well, I'd asked them both to accept guest status aboard, then directed Joa to take us out into the middle of nowhere so that we could talk with far more privacy than the crowded Sahrabarik system would have offered.

"So that's that then." I sighed, settling back into my seat in the ship's main lounge. I hadn't wanted to deal with everyone, especially considering just who they all were, and so had restricted the initial conversation to just myself, Aethyta, and Chambers. "The Collectors know we're after them, and our predictive schedule is fucked. It did seem like it was correct, Hainan and Sudeten got hit by the largest attacks, but now we're back to sailing without stars."

The old Matriarch on my right grunted, setting down her small glass of ice-wine. She was still pale, and definitely shouldn't have been drinking, but I wasn't about to stop her. "Shit. At least your band gave the Geth a beating, maybe that will slow their operations down a bit."

I grimaced, "Doubt it, but possible. Either way, I'm too low on cash to just keep my fleet sitting around Horizon or Freedom's Progress to wait for another attack, and I'm not confident we could take a Collector flotilla even if you decided to throw money at me."

Chambers pursed her lips a little, a finger slowly running around the edge of her own glass. She'd surprised me by going with a very hard Turian brandy, slamming a good half of it back before forcing herself to slow down. "What are you going to do then? You're... our only real ally, we might need your ships when the time comes."

"I know." Picking up my own drink, a small glass of straight rum, I sipped at it and then sighed. "I might be able to work side-mission clearance into a contract, but most of the fleet would still have to be committed elsewhere. I need a time-frame."

The psychologist grimaced. "When?"

"Soonest." I replied simply. "I can give you an Omega week, I can go through another refit and supply run to delay a bit, but after that... I need income."

"All right." She sighed, reaching up to rub at her forehead. "I'll converse with Miss Lawson and see what we can do. Speaking of, she wants to visit her."

My left hand rolled dismissively. "They aren't hostages, Frankenstein can come by whenever she thinks she can get away with it."

Aethyta pursed her lips, "Stupid risk to take, if either of you kids cares what I think."

I snorted and glanced at her, "This is coming from the old fish that got her ass ambushed."

"Fuck off." Liara's father growled before throwing the last of her wine back, "Can we get this over with? I have a network to put back together."

"Fine." Shaking my head, I leaned back as casually as I was comfortable doing, which wasn't all that much, "What does Korolev want?"

"To talk with you, alone." Aethyta rolled a shoulder, "And yeah, she's still... weird."

I grunted, not really sure what that was about, and glanced at Chambers. The Cerberus operative sighed and brought her omni-tool up. "It's not good. They exposed her to a Reaper artifact, some kind of little pyramid, for six and a half hours across the week."

The Matriarch frowned, "That was enough?"

Chambers rolled a shoulder in an Asari shrug. "They... found baselines through quantitative testing. Salarians and Drell are indoctrinated in four to five hours, Humans, Quarians, and Batarians are gone in eight to ten, and Asari last an hour or two past that. Krogan peaked at sixteen hours close association, and the one Elcor they managed to bring in lasted for thirty."

I lifted an eyebrow at the last. "Cumulative then? They do similar tests with an orb?"

"Yes for the first," She exhaled. "Entirely different for the second. If it's active, you've got a couple of seconds before it takes you. Strong willpower, like Miss T'Donna showed on Benihi, can be enough to destroy it or flee, but... your odds aren't good. They had range tests scheduled for next week."

Aethyta shook her head, "I'm sure Aria's psychopaths have already worked that out."

"They're not doing indoctrination tests." I grimaced slightly, taking another sip from my rum."Security reasons, not moral, but I know she was exchanging some data with the Illusive Man a few months ago."

"And slaves." Kelly murmured quietly. "Given in return for the data on the project. Taking advantage of his gambling nature against her paranoia."

"Not surprised." It was my turn to rub at my forehead, my mind not liking the reminder of just who I worked with and occupationally for. "What else do you have on Korolev? What were they trying for?"

Green eyes blinked, then she seemed to shake herself before bringing up the appropriate notes on her omni-tool. "Counter-Indoctrination research. One of the scientists theorized that one type might override the other, and if the timing was precisely correct, the individual might be freed from both. She was subject zero of that concept... it did work to reclaim some of her buried memories, apparently, but mostly it just made her an unstable, ranting mess."

Aethyta frowned. "Memories... what kind?"

"Those logs were lost." Kelly shrugged again, "We'll have to ask her. Or rather, Kean will."

Grimacing, I nodded slightly, not looking forwards to that conversation. "The logs say anything about whether or not she's too far gone?"

"A prototype scanner, probably from Aria's scientists, confirmed she's still Levi-taken." Chambers pursed her lips as she glanced at the information, "They... _think_ that it was providing her with some kind of resistance to Reaper indoctrination. Most subjects show early signs, almost become entranced by the artifact, but she and the Asari they tested became violently ill and... erratic almost at once. We stopped them before they could do more advanced testing, but it was definitely planned to look more into that concept."

There was a humming sound from Aethyta, her good eye narrowing. "What about the other way around? Reaper crap put near an orb?"

"No response." She shook her head, "The Leviathans were apparently aware of the testing, when they tried putting a Reaper thrall near the orb it just shut down and their husks went crazy to try and kill the thrall. After that, it wouldn't even indoctrinate anyone so they tried to... well, jump-start it, but didn't get anywhere before we arrived."

I snorted quietly. "The shrimp wanted them to know about their enemies, but didn't want them to know much about themselves."

Aethyta's lips twisted. "Yeah. Fuckers. Anything else girl?"

Chambers made an unhappy face. "Plenty. This was their main lab, but there was a good dozen more spread across the galaxy all conducting more focused experiments. I still have to go over most of it, but there was at least one station that was apparently showing promise in anti-indoctrination research using captured Rachni drones before..."

The Matriarch rolled her eye, "The Queen sent a swarm to massacre the morons?"

"Yes." Chambers winced as she nodded, "Still, it's an avenue you might want to explore with Miss Korolev, or yourself, Mister Kean."

I pursed my lips, covering the expression with another slow pull from my glass. I trusted Ghai implicitly, and had faith that she'd fix my brain eventually... but any extra data could at least help her. "Considering how busy I'm going to be, that's probably a better avenue for Korolev and T'Soni to look into."

Aethyta frowned at me slightly, then shook her head and flicked back the last of her wine. "Anything else?"

There was a long sigh, then the Cerberus traitor duly began to go through the quick-notes variation of what Prometheus had been up to. As Liara's own spies had indicated, it had been the Illusive Man's primary attempt to understand the Leviathans and prove that humanity could be useful to them... while also gaining sufficient understanding of the creatures so that they could be betrayed sooner or later depending on the circumstances.

It had been Prometheus agents, specifically the Heracles cell, who had diverted the Butcher to the Ferris Fields mission to let the Matriarch take a stab at him. The same group had evidently begun hounding all of Shepard's old associates not long after. Three of her old N7 buddies were already dead, having been given false intel that turned a routine Hegemony recon run into a suicide operation, and most of the SR-1's surviving crew had been discharged and scattered thanks to the influence of a political cell.

Of course, the main targets had been her old ground team. Williams had barely survived a combined Cerberus-Matriarch hit squad disguised as pirates, and was still recovering on the Citadel. Tali's adventure on Haestrom had been followed up by an equally abysmal mission to Vekkesh, where she'd once again been hounded by both Geth and husks as soon as they'd identified her, and she evidently hadn't left the safety of the Migrant Fleet since. Wrex was being ignored thanks to the difficulty of even getting a team to Tuchanka, but both T'Soni and Vakarian were priority targets.

Most annoying was the news that Heracles had a team of seven agents on Omega, skulking about in Tuhi, using a QEC transmitter to evade Elder's usual communications sweeps. They were evidently waiting for Jacqueline to expose herself outside of our wall, and were trying to find a way into Illium Minor via the warrens in the meantime.

I took special care to note down the location of their safehouse, and had Chambers forward me images and descriptions all of seven.

In better news, we did have the location of three different Matriarchal facilities in the Republics that Aethyta assured us she would handle, and the names of several Republic officers who were evidently on the old bitch's payroll. They'd evidently been the ones to deliver the orb to Cerberus, and the humans hadn't been so stupid as to not note who had dropped it off.

We also had massive amounts of broken research data, on both types of indoctrination as well as potential interactions between the two. Less wholesomely, we had a lovely set of of lists about the variations in husking methodology and just what it did to the individual in question, as well as how long it took and how much agony the subject seemed to be in during the process.

"Just forward us that crap." Aethyta grunted when Kelly got that far, "I'm not going to read it sober, and I'm short on time as it is. You two can talk about whatever secret crap you want, I'll go find Korolev and get her up here to chat with you kid."

"All right." I replied, collecting my glass and Chambers' while the Matriarch stood up. She limped off without another word or even a glance back at us, which didn't surprise me at all. I refilled our drinks and then returned to the red-head, settling back into my chair while she quietly thanked me for the brandy.

"So." I spoke after two or three tense minutes of silence, punctuated only by occasional drinking. "I really hope you're not waiting for me to reassure you about what you did or anything like that, or speaking to the morality of the shit we just waded through."

She actually snorted at that, "Oh god no, I'm just... contemplating the nature of clarity, I suppose."

I blinked. "Do I even want to know?"

Chambers shrugged a little, "I joined Cerberus because I saw where humanity was going, what the other races could do to us, and I didn't want those things. I wanted us to be able to stand on our own, as respected allies instead of as servants or worse. Anything more than that was impractical for any number of reasons... but... I guess I underestimated how much bigotry can trump intelligence, or common sense, or even just basic decency."

"Yeah." I took a fortifying drink from my glass, "Spend some more time in the Terminus, you'll stop underestimating idiocy really quickly."

"Yes... but my point is that I dreamt of major changes, of hope and cooperation and respect." She seemed to sigh. "I saw the galaxy as it was, and wanted to help make it what it could be, and I thought that Cerberus could be a positive change agent. I like to think that kind of dream is noble, in its own way... but you spend too much time dreaming, you forget to wake up and see what's around you. I should have taken a page from your book."

I snorted softly. "I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, to be honest. Why?"

"There is a clarity to your perspective." Chambers glanced up at me, smiling almost sadly. "A practicality. What you can change, you change. What Aria or Sederis would kill you for changing, you don't. You've accepted limits, boundaries, and you rarely push them. That's the difference between you and people like Shepard."

"Or Vakarian." I muttered the name, the shook my head and sighed. "Chambers... Kelly. Stop playing the what-if game, the only place that gets you is the bottom of that glass, and then the bottle after that. Even if you'd been more focused, spied on the other projects more, you probably couldn't have done anything. You'd have just ended up an indoctrinated thrall like anyone else who got too mouthy."

"Intellectually, logically, I agree with you." Her glass rose, and she took a small sip. "Emotionally, morally, I'm a mess who just wants to get black-out drunk and find something male to sleep with."

I snorted, "I'm sure there's plenty on the ship who'd be willing. You want to skip to that part, or you think we can go over the plan before Korolev gets here?"

"I would rather skip it, but we do need to go over the plan again, yes." She exhaled, setting her glass down and leaning back. It took her a moment to regain her composure, but not as long as I'd have assumed. "We've co-opted a few cell groups, and the news that we were rescuing slaves and then experimenting on them will probably bring in quite a few more. Especially from the Corsairs."

I rolled my eyes. "Are any of those idiots _not_ in Cerberus?"

"Sixty percent of the Captains take orders from Petrovsky, give or take." She rolled a hand in the Asari motion for an obvious fact, "The last government helped us there, with their short-sighted policies and idiotic budgets. They make up about half of Ajax Cell right now, and the rest is about what you'd expect. Lots of light ships, only a few heavy cruisers, ground troops more suited to fighting against Council targets and pirates than your heavy infantry. Most of our fleet is retro-fitted Alliance ships that were supposedly decommissioned at various times, and is scattered across the Traverse and Alliance on assignment."

I nodded slowly, seeing the logic. Why build a new ship when you could probably bribe some Alliance officials to get old ones for practically free? Especially if you had the tech and the time to retro-fit them up to modern standards later. "Did you call her then?"

Kelly nodded in turn, "Yes, the plan remains the same in principle, provided that our actions remain undetected. She or I will contact you via the usual channels when Lazarus is complete and provide you with the location of the station, it's expected to occur in two months."

Two months... that would probably be enough time for Lawson's little rebellion to spread pretty far, but it was going to be annoying as fuck from my perspective. "You remind her that I can't exactly work for free right now?"

"Yes." She grimaced. "She'll be able to re-route funds to pay your standard rates plus fifty percent once we make our move, but we can't do anything before without revealing our hand."

"Understood." Fuck. Maybe... we would offer our services to both sides in the Black Spire-Ghet's Retreat conflict, and charge heavily for combat bonuses. A short fight would let us actually get some experience in fleet actions, and I wasn't particularly sympathetic to either side in that fiasco. Whoever paid more would see us work for them for a short time, then we'd pull back, refit, and be ready for Cerberus.

Shit. I didn't like that plan, but there was no way the other colonies would accept a meager two month contract, not for what we demanded in compensation.

"If," Chambers resumed, "Things go badly, you'll get the codeword along with the locations of Lazarus and two mustering stations in the Traverse; Minuteman and Firelance. She wants you to hit the latter two first, that will take out the main groups supposed to secure Lazarus in case of emergencies and might deceive the General as to your real target, then move to help secure Shepard."

I grunted. "You have more details on that?"

"That's all she gave me." She winced a little, wordlessly admitting that she wasn't much of a military mind and had just been relaying information. "You can probably ask for more data in code, but she did ask that we wait at least two or three weeks before risking even that level of communication again."

"All right." The sound of a door opening punctuated my words, and I glanced up to see Nikita Korolev walk into the lounge. Her tanned skin was a bit paler than normal, her dark hair long and tied back in a Terminus style braid rather than the short-crop I'd seen her with last. She was dressed in an ill-fitting pair of slacks that had been rolled up around her ankles, along with a black work-out shirt bearing the Silver Blade, and had a slight limp as she moved. "Please forward me all of the data you have, and send any analysis you think is relevant when you think its safe to do so."

"I will." Chambers rose from her seat, politely bowing in the Batarian fashion. "On the other matter... you know where I can find someone, and do you mind if I take the bottle?"

I snorted, rising to politely return her bow. "Take it, and go on up to the bridge. I'm sure Joa can tell you everyone who'd be open to that on board. Tell her why I sent you, she'll probably get a laugh out of it."

She gave me a tired grin that only barely reached her eyes, "Thank you."

With that she turned away, stopping at the bar to grab the entire bottle of brandy, not quite ever looking at Korolev as she departed. I sighed as I noticed that my fellow experiment was not quite murderously glaring at the Cerberus agent so much as she was openly picturing what Chambers would look like while she eviscerated her. Only once the shorter woman had left did she seem to shake herself, walking over to collapse into the chair that Aethyta had departed from earlier.

"Ciarán." She smiled as she sat down, "It's good to see you again."

I nodded noncommittally in return, "Korolev. What do you want?"

The Chosen One actually seemed to pout a little. "We can't catch up with old... wait, no." Her eyes narrowed, and she shook her head slowly. "No. You don't remember, not like we... not like I do."

My expressionless stare morphed into a frown. "You're still not all there, are you?"

"No." She admitted bluntly, reaching up to rub at a cheek. "It's... hard to tell which of us is... in control. I'm Chosen Nikita, the result of the Matriarch's stupid Process. Cynical Nikita is in here too, she's what's left of... who I was before, the one who likes you. The Reaper pyramid made me remember... some of it."

I pursed my lips. "And... what? You want to tell me how shitty it was? I'm pretty sure I can imagine."

Brown eyes went flat, her expression becoming remote. "No. You can't. I can still hear Tuya screaming, pounding on her cell walls as they made us watch you go through it. I... don't know what I sounded like when they cut open Jaime in front of us, but it was... probably worse. It broke us, me."

"Tuya?"

"Team Five." A brittle smile appeared. "We were the best. You, me, Jaime, and Tuya. We thought we were being trained to support Republic operations in the Traverse, to blend in where Asari couldn't. That kind of thing. Instead... we started to get suspicious, tried to break out, and... she accelerated the process a bit."

I exhaled slowly, then threw back the last of my rum. "Korolev-"

"I know, you don't want to remember." Her head shook as she spoke, her eyes lowering. "God, _I_ don't want to remember, much less have to relay it to you...no, that's not why we're here."

"Then why are you here?"

Teeth appeared as she bit her lip. "We wanted to... I wanted to ask... if I could stay with you, for a while."

That hadn't been anything close to what I'd been expecting, and I blinked repeatedly as my body shifted to show Batarian surprise. "...what?"

"You're the only other one left." She swallowed, "The only one who even comes close to... knowing what it's like. Liara tries, bless her, but I'm still all screwed up from the stupid compulsions and I can't..."

I held a hand up, "You know them?"

"Bitch told me exactly what she was going to do to me before she put me under." Tanned lips actually curled angrily, her entire posture shifting, and I grimaced as I realized it was her other personality moving in. "I... can't really disobey an Asari, not easily, and almost never directly. I was forced to fall in love with Garrus, to the point where I physically couldn't tell Liara how I feel about her. I remember everything from what happened to me since I joined Shepard, and if you say the right code phrase I just babble it all out and then forget that I said anything."

I couldn't help but wince. "...more than that?"

Tears actually appeared as she glanced down, her shoulders hunching and the pitch of her voice changing to something younger, more vulnerable. "Yes. Two code phrases, one to... activate a deep beacon on the SR-1. To reveal it to the Collectors. The other was... to shoot myself if I got off the ship, to dispose of me so that another agent could be brought in for the next stage. Tali...stopped me, grabbed my gun when... when she realized what I was about to do. I... I tried to... Wrex stopped me from hurting her, but don't even remember trying, another block... stopped me from remembering the attempt, so I could still be _useful_ later... they... only told Liara about it, trusted her to... protect me from myself."

I just kind of... stared at her, my brain utterly becalmed for once.

I mean, I'd known that T'Ravt was a fucked up piece of driftwood who needed to die horribly, but... fuck. Suddenly I felt like the lucky one, even though my life expectancy was worse than hers. Being compelled to become life-partners with Trena, forgetting my past, and knowing that I could die of seizures and insane anxiety attacks in the next three to five years was absolutely nothing in comparison to that level of crap.

"I... can we have some of that?" She pointed a shaking finger at my empty glass.

Blinking, I shook myself and nodded, standing up and heading over to the bar. Grabbing another glass, and the entire bottle, I brought it back and carefully poured her a small measure of the Illium Rum.

"Take it slow." I murmured as I pushed it to her, "Asari rum is bitter if you try and throw it back."

She nodded, taking a tiny sip. "Thank you, Ciarán."

"Cieran." I corrected absently, "Ciarán is what my bitch of a mother named me, and I'd rather not associate with her more than I have to."

Korolev blinked, "You... found her then? You always told us how you weren't sure if you loved her for getting you out of that life, or wanted to murder her for being such a shit mother that living on the streets was a better option."

I snorted quietly, not at all surprised. "I'm guessing the latter was closer to how I actually felt, I was probably trying to be polite. I don't care for her much these days, or one of my half-brothers. The other is tolerable enough, if... a bit hero-worshiping."

There was a quiet sound. "At least one of them is all right. My family is dead, pirate attack. They had me and two other girls from our settlement stripped down, ready to be... _used_ when the Matriarch showed up. Everyone else had similar stories. Last second saves, freed from abusive slavery, that kind of thing. I think you were the only one that was actually unplanned, a side-pick up from a mission to annoy her sister that happened to come with a bonus."

"Easy shell game to set up, for her." I shook my head, sipping from my drink. "Establishes loyalty, makes you feel like an ass if you ask questions or make demands."

"Yeah. You and Tuya were suspicious from the start, but we didn't really have any idea how bad it was." Her head shook, "We don't even know what happened to her... or Jaime."

I winced. "Krom... Kerensky, was a friend of ours?"

"I loved him." She replied simply. "Even when he flirted with Zero to make me jealous, or trolled you and Tuya about how angsty you both were, or... did any number of other stupid, male things. We know... I know you killed him, but... how...?"

Exhaling heavily, I took a long pull from my glass. "Illyan broke his neck over a railing in Afterlife. Considering what Aria planned to do to him, that was at least quick. He was mad, you know that right?"

"I know." Her head lowered again, her cup rising and then falling as she drank slowly. "He was... she didn't mind, that he went crazy. She wanted to punish us for trying to leave, and knew that the ninth effort probably wouldn't end well. You were... I think you were the first stable one, you and twelve. They stopped for a while, after the two of you, then started on the ones she sent to the Citadel. Did... you find out anything about the others? Is there anyone else? There should have been twenty, at least from our group."

I leaned back in my chair, considered trying to lie given her obviously emotional state... then decided to just sail in my usual waters. "From what we were able to pull from his omni-tool, Krom and Zero broke out Eighteen and Nineteen at some point, and did something to hide them. So far as I know, the Matriarch is still looking for them, and Aethyta hasn't been able to find them either. No idea on Twenty, but I'd assume that he or she will show up after Shepard is revived to try and take your place as an inside agent."

Korolev bit her lip, her voice shifting back to cool, collected tones. "God knows how many compulsions that poor idiot will be loaded down with... dammit. Tuya might still be out there, she wasn't one of the dead on the Citadel. I'll recognize her if the Matriarch tries to use her, at least."

I nodded, "What does she look like?"

"Full name is Enkhtuyaa, she's Mongolian." Something like a wicked smile appeared. "Tall, built, exotic, a very take charge personality. Your type of girl."

"Don't tell me..."

"I don't know if you loved her," She shrugged, still smiling a little, "But you definitely had sex often enough."

Oh goddess... I rubbed at my forehead tiredly, the last thing I needed right now was another ex-lover causing problems, and with my luck she'd prove to be the next Chosen One. "Let's just circle back. You want to stick around instead of going off with your friends?"

"My friends..." Her head shook again. "You mean the person I'm actually in love with, but who loves Shepard because I couldn't tell her that? And also the person I'm in love because I was compelled to be against my will? I think... I need some space from them, right now."

I regarded her levelly, then let out a long, tired sigh. I didn't know her, not like she evidently knew me. Had known me. Whatever. But... she was a young woman in obvious pain, and I'd never been much good at just brushing that aside, especially when it essentially cost me nothing to accept.

"Was I a chivalrous idiot who struggled to say no to women back then too?" I asked tiredly.

"Yes." The faint smile returned. "Your mother, your actual one, liked to read you old human stories about knights. I think she changed a bunch of it around to make it more Batarian, bodyguards protecting warrior queens instead of helpless princesses, but it definitely stuck with you."

I snorted quietly. Well, at least now I knew where that irrational complex came from. "You can come with if you want to, but you'll probably have to work for a living. You're a detective, right?"

"Yes, but we can handle any kind of reporting and analytics," Her mouth twisted a little, "That was my... training, in the program."

"All right. I might put you to work in our support body, they handle governmental and economic crap." I tapped my glass with a finger, thinking. "I might also ask you to meld with my mind healer, Ghai T'Laria. She's been helping me stay stable, might help you get a handle on... which one of you is actually running things."

Korolev snorted quietly, and nodded. "We would both appreciate that. It's... not exactly fun to be looked as if one is crazy."

That drew a small smile to my own face, but I continued on. "Also, I might still have to send you off with T'Soni at least once. Aethyta tell you about the Rachni angle?"

"Yes." She grimaced a little, "I don't think the Queen can really heal indoctrination so much as the Rachni are just really, really resistant to it... but I guess anything is worth trying."

"Exactly." I nodded, "If I do have to send you, I'll see about sending a bodyguard team with to keep you safe."

"Thank you. About... us, you and I, not me and... I mean, the two of us friends, I mean." She licked her lips a little. "I know you don't remember me like I do you, but... we'll spend time together, right?"

I exhaled slowly again, trying not to process the almost desperate notation to her words, and how quickly she seemed to go from cool logical to over-emotion. "It likely won't be one on one sessions like this, but yes, I won't just ignore you once we arrive. If I'm busy, your best bets to vent and just talk are probably with Voya or Jacqueline."

There was a definite wince. "I... don't think that Chi likes me very much."

"Voya doesn't care for many people, no." I admitted, "But she respects people who get back up no matter how shitty their pasts were. So long as you don't give in and start a pity-party, she'll tolerate you and be willing to listen. And I'm sure you know Jacqueline."

"...you mean Jack?" She blinked. "Wait, does she actually let you call her that? She didn't let anyone but Shepard call her that on the Normandy. She threatened anyone who tried."

I lifted an eyebrow, "And how did that go when she threatened Shepard?"

"Shep beat her senseless... oh." Her head shook, "You're training her too then?"

"When I have the time." I grimaced. "Being a Warlord doesn't give me as much free time as you'd think. Speaking of, I have to get up to the bridge to handle crisis number... four. You should go tell the old fish and T'Soni that you're staying, then have the deck officer down there get you a stateroom. You'll probably live on the ship until we can find a room for you at headquarters. I'll message you once I get a schedule worked out."

"All right, and... thank you." She stood, bit her lip, then tried to bow as Chambers had. She mangled the normally smooth motion and didn't tilt her head appropriately, but I respected the effort enough to stand up and return the gesture.

We parted ways after exiting the lounge, me flagging down a passing sailor and having him escort Korolev back to the hangar while I turned in the opposite direction for the bridge. My usual shadow arrived shortly into the trip, stretching her arms above her head in a very self-satisfied motion as her throat let out a mewling noise. She'd already removed her helmet and armor in favor of a light suit and a clear mask around her nose and mouth, her usual wear for on board a mostly but not entirely clean ship.

I snorted softly, glancing at her in time to see her grin, fingering the dog tags that had been added to her necklace. "Someone's happy."

"Very." She all but purred, proving her good mood by actually moving to press into my side as I walked. After a few steps I took the hint and gently slid an arm around her shoulders, "I'm going to diversify, I think. Add a belt to go with the necklace so I can spread them out a bit more."

"It is getting a bit crowded." I agreed, glancing at the necklace in question. "Any news?"

She rolled a shoulder, "Nothing particularly important. The soldiers are in good moods, easy victories against the Geth improved morale. Sailors a bit less so since they didn't get a chance to prove themselves."

"They'll get their chance." I exhaled as we reached the nearest bank of lifts, stepping into them. I started to fill her in on the basics of what had gone down in the first meeting, including my concept to fill the next two months until Lazarus was completed. After that we moved into what Chambers had indicated, that they intended to stick to the original plan while gathering more allies, while we waited in the wings as support.

"It won't be that simple." She muttered as we approached the bridge, her hair rustling a little as she shook her head. "Lawson can plot all she wants, but we both know that we're going to have to go with the backup plan."

"I know." I sighed, "We'll have some time to plot it all out, and I'm going to get all the data I can from her. I'm more annoyed that we won't be able to deal with the Collectors very well, but not much we can do about that."

Voya let out a quiet sound of agreement, then glanced away as we neared the two guards outside of the command center, both of the Turians staring at us in something like shock. I expected her to separate from me, but instead felt her awkwardly slide an arm around my waist, her chin rising in something like a challenge to the two men.

"Voya'chi vas Xentha." I muttered as they opened the door for us, both of them twitching a little as if they were trying not to both laugh and cringe. "Are you claiming me right now?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied, though I saw her forked tongue run over her lips in a sign of nerves as we entered the bridge proper. The usual quiet chatter of officers on duty was broken as Joa heard our approach, turning around with an annoyed expression on her face. As usual she'd disdained a shirt, sticking with just the uniform's pants and a dark navy bra... and she'd actually sewn her Senior Captain's rune onto the left cup.

I sighed, resisting the urge to pointlessly tell her to put a goddess-damned top on, and settled for just shaking my head and wondering how I always ended up in situations like this.

"Cieran, you're bloody late, Massa's been..." Her voice trailed off as she blinked, staring at Voya and I as if we were a new kind of life-form. "...huh. Damn."

I blinked, not really having expected that response. "Joa?"

The ship's captain sighed, "One minute boss." Turning away from us, she glared at her first officer, the stately Turian's mandibles slowly shifting into a smile. "Stop grinning like an idiot."

Civ Lexu chuckled deeply, but restrained his facial appendages even as he held up a hand. Joa irritably pulled out a credit chit from a pocket before slapping it into his palm, and he silently put it into one of his own before falling into an at-rest position.

Beside me, Voya let out an irritated sound somewhere between a hiss and a growl, her hair rustling as she twitched her head rapidly. " _Joa._ "

"What?" The purple skinned Asari rolled her eyes as she waved us towards the front of the room. "A bet was a bet, if you haven't already jumped him you're going to tonight from the way you're hanging off of him."

Voya's wide eyes narrowed dangerously as her voice lowered. "Cie, do we really need her?"

"We do." I sighed. "So make sure she survives whatever your plan is. Joa, are we ready to go?"

"Mostly, Cerberus told me they're staying with until Omega, they'll leave from there, so we're just waiting on the Broker shuttle to detach." She rolled a shoulder as she sat down in her command chair, Voya and I finally separating and moving to stand nearby. "Massa's been demanding an ETA, she's blood raging about some crap that Shaaryak did. Wants a private meeting with you as soon as you're both on Omega."

I grimaced. Trena had implied as much, but I hadn't been sure if it was the truth or just her exaggerating. "Any ideas as to what?"

The Asari grimaced. "From what Ghai told me, the 'throw the bitch out of the company' level kind of crap."

...oh goddess. Sucking in a heavy breath, I fought the urge to rub at my face or otherwise show weakness. "Well... shit. That's going to be a fun meeting to get through on top of everything else. I'm going to try and find you a short-term shooting war, by the way. Something to blow off some steam."

Joa blinked, then actually grinned a little. "That's not a bad idea. Lot of my girls are starting to get a little irritated at just shuttling ground troops around and threatening idiots away. Where?"

"Figure I'll start a bidding war between Black Spire and Ghet's Retreat, loser sees you take the fleet and blow apart everything in the system."

"They'll pay out of the ass for that... I like it." The grin became a smirk as she leaned back in her chair, "You mind if I spread the word on that? Might buck up morale a bit to know you're going to actually commit us to some action."

"Go for it." I rolled a shoulder, "Probably just the Captains for now though, in case crap doesn't pan out and we have to find another source of employment."

"Hierarchy, maybe?" Voya suggested, "Plenty of pirates stupid enough to attack them that we could obliterate."

Joa shrugged, "True enough, we'd be doing the galaxy a favor by clearing out people that moronic. You going to stick around for the jump or no? It's not a long trip back but I think Ven took in a big food contract from Aria through our docks, so it might be a bit before we can move in."

"Lovely... I'll be in my quarters, let me know if there's another crisis so I can delegate it to someone else."

Snorts went up from around the bridge that, though from the way Joa rolled her eyes she knew I was being entirely serious. I smirked a little as I departed, Voya quietly following alongside me. She refrained from moving closer this time, having evidently pushed her boundaries enough for one day. Neither one of us spoke on the short walk to the stateroom, stepping inside and locking the door behind us.

She wasted no time in removing her half-mask, tossing it aside irritably as I collapsed into the room's bunk.

"I know that look." Her voice was annoyed as she walked over, "What else happened?"

"Korolev is coming with us." I exhaled, throwing an arm over my eyes. "The shit they did let her remember... a lot of crap, apparently. She's so fucked up that I'm normal in comparison, and doesn't want to be around T'Soni or Vakarian right now."

There was a startled pause, then a tired, mewling groan escaped her. "Tell me."

I did, recounting the entire conversation. By the time I was done, she'd sat down beside me, and let me put my head in her lap, one of her hands resting on my chest while the other lazily played with my hair. It was an ideal position, from our combined points of view, satisfying her need to always be in control of the situation, while still letting me be physically close to her.

"And of course you let her come with." She sighed as I finished. "You seem to have an obsession with collecting damaged females to surround yourself with."

I sighed quietly. "Could you not state it like that? You make it sound like I'm trying to build the galaxy's most screwed up harem or something."

Voya snorted softly. "What are we going to do with her long-term?"

"Fuck if I know." I shook my head a little, reaching up and running a finger along the thick scarring on her neck. Her eyes closed slowly at the touch, her body going still. "Let her stay around until she's healthy enough to decide what she wants to do next."

A hand slowly rose, wrapping burning fingers around my wrist as she pulled it away. "You know I don't like that being touched."

"I know." I replied quietly, "I just... don't know how you survived it."

"Yes you do." She murmured. "Hatred, rage, and cursed luck that wouldn't just let me escape into death."

I winced a little, "Voya..."

Her head shook as her hips rose, tilting to deposit me onto the bed. She shifted herself around, swinging a muscled leg over me before settling to sit on my thighs. "That was then, not now. We've been over this."

Exhaling, I reached up and gently touched her shoulders without exerting any pressure. Her large, glowing eyes narrowed, but she huffed and lowered herself down. "We have, but you know me. I worry about you."

" _Bosh'tet._ " She muttered the word even as she turned her face, rubbing her left cheek against my goatee in a slow motion. "I'm not the one who had his soul violated by a Matriarch who decided to play god."

"I'm not the one who can remember a year of slavery." I reminded her quietly, letting my eyes lid as she slid to my right, running her mouth and face over the skin on my neck. "You had it much worse."

She went still for a long moment, then seemed to sigh quietly. "Stubborn, idiot male. Why do I love you, again?"

"My good looks?" I suggested.

That earned me a snort, and a soft bite to my neck before she pulled back. "I'm still adjusting to your ugliness."

"Are you now?" I lifted eyebrows as I reached over, grabbing her right hand. Before she could stop me, I slid it down and then under the left side of my shirt, pressing it against the scars that covered that side of my body.

Voya's thin lips pursed as she almost unconsciously ran her small claws over them before stopping as she realized what she was doing. "One or two attractive attributes doesn't make you handsome, merely barely acceptable."

Snorting quietly, I shifted my free hand to trail a finger over her shirt, careful to move slowly and obviously. "I don't remember you complaining when you were telling me to do things to these, and to stop being so slow about it."

The skin around her eyes darkened rapidly as she swallowed, "Such a _male,_ I was hardly that aggressive with you either time I let you touch me."

I hummed in agreement, letting my arms go limp at my side as I relaxed. "True, but we never did get to finish what we started when Liara interrupted us last week, and you do seem to like directing things."

Her black, forked tongue appeared as she licked her lips, and I felt a subtle shift to her hips. "I... are you sure? I still don't want to go beyond touching one another, perhaps... your lips, and I didn't know if you would mind me... you... _you_ _keshin._ Shyeel talked to you, didn't she?"

I blinked at the sudden accusation. "...no? I was just assuming from what you seemed to like the first two times, and how you were acting before we were interrupted."

"Oh." She pursed her lips, "That's... all right then."

" _Should_ I talk with-"

" _No!"_ Her voice all but snapped the word as she shifted her weight back a bit, letting her hands grab the hem of my shirt. "No. Neither one of us has to do that, I... you really just guessed that I...?"

"That you seem to really like it when I ask you what to do?" I murmured, hefting myself up enough for her to pull my shirt over my head and arms. "That seemed easy enough. It go farther than that?"

Her throat worked as she swallowed, a hand once again idly running over my many scars as she stared down at me. "Yes."

I lifted an eyebrow. "How far?"

"I don't like causing pain, or dominance games, but..." She licked her lips again, "But I do like being in control. Very in control. It's... would you... I want..."

While she tried to find the right words, I carefully reached out and touched her shirt, pulling it up slightly. She didn't resist, shifting herself a bit to let me pull it up and over her head, revealing the bare skin over her muscled stomach, and the soft layers of white hair covering everything else.

Voya let me stare for a long few breaths, then abruptly reached out and wrapped a hand in my hair. I grunted softly as she gave it one hard tug, evidently checking her grip, then she leaned in closer. "I... you like females leading, but are you sure?"

"Voya." I sighed, leaning forwards slightly and gently kissing her. "Just shut up and tell me what to do already."

She shuddered a little, then let out a low, pleased sound as she pulled on my hair, forcing me back down to the bed, something almost wickedly excited in her expression. "Sacred ancestors... but there are times when I adore you, Cieran. Now shut up and attend to me."

* * *

 _ **End Act III: Traverse**_

* * *

 _And here we finish Act III of this particular story. The goal was to create a story much like Terminus, where old plotlines are closed and numerous others are prepared for a coming trilogy. In a way it's sad, I'd have loved to have filled the massive time skips in this story with training montages and lots of secondary points of view... but considering how long it's taken us just to get to the start of ME2, dragging it on farther didn't seem right._

 _Originally I had planned for just one epilogue chapter, which would be a flash-back to just what happened on Illium between Cieran, Liara, Ghai, Miranda, Kelly, and Genosa... but I think that's going to have to be a story only referenced, or perhaps put in a TWF chapter, or perhaps as a prologue to Hellhounds. Instead we'll likely just have a single extremely teasing preview for Hellhounds, which will probably drop sometime in June._

 _For those curious as to the next three stories and their pacing in regards to canon; take ME2, ME3, all six AR stories, add a bit more AU, and throw it all into a blender. The game plan, in order to cover more of the galaxy-wide plot, is to rotate back to the Einherjar format. Every chapter will contain a primary section (Cieran's point of view), along with a rotating secondary POV. Interludes will break up the acts, and will likely be entirely from secondary POVs._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	36. Epilogue I: Broken Blades

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Epilogue I: Broken Blades**

* * *

"A confirmed kill." I sighed as I threw the tablet onto my desk, reaching up to rub at my temples. "Can't exactly argue with it."

Ayle merely grunted, her tall form pacing slowly across my office, _chehala_ smoke trailing behind her as she smoked furiously from a pipe. The pair of us were dressed in our formal uniforms, complete with coats, in preparation for the formal call that we'd have to make soon enough.

"Good," She murmured after a long pull from the smoldering leaves, "I was worried you'd try to defend her."

I grimaced, glancing at the device and wishing that I could.

Nynsi had evidently fallen back into old habits during the civil war, something probably not helped by her high levels of exposure to Batarian high society. The Shaaryak name was, after all, very old, and very powerful, and even as a woman her influence had more or less exploded as soon as she'd shown up in person. As a result, it hadn't taken long for her people to start undertaking missions that were far more political than practical, securing old family assets or assisting Patriarchs who agreed to push her Traditionalist-Equalitist agenda. Two of those occasions had resulted in Ayle's people being hit hard without the cover they'd expected from the Illium units.

For even more fun and games, her personal relationship with Ayle, once cordial if occasionally tense, had more or less disintegrated within the first few months. Ayle had been forced into threatening to bring me into the arguments to remind Nynsi that she was the senior Executive, and that her status as Highborn didn't matter within the corporate structure. The two had barely cooperated, and if not for the fact that they wore the same uniform, likely wouldn't have at all. Not that Ayle had played it perfectly either, her usual blunt, acerbic nature had pricked Nynsi's pride on more than one occasion, but my old lover's reactions had usually been far more over the top.

I disliked that she'd taken the missions that she had, and not properly backed up Ayle, but she hadn't technically done anything that she wasn't authorized to do as an Executive. The problems, from my point of view, stemmed from the fact that she'd openly ignored Ayle's orders on multiple occasions, and had shifted to outright ignoring her during the invasion of Khar'shan. And then, instead of coming home with her troops to explain herself... she was politicking on her homeworld, repairing the ancestral mansion complex, and sleeping with the new Hegemon.

Exhaling heavily, I reached out and tapped a control on my desk. "Rhi?"

" _Honored Reyja'krem."_ The young Batarian woman in charge of communications replied at once.

"I need a priority FTL transmission to Khar'shan, to Executive Commander Shaaryak. Route it through Aria's system and tell Elder to pull the costs from the usual account."

 _"Sir._ " She replied promptly. A moment later a small screen flickered to life above the wood, the Batarian runes for patience appearing as the system connected.

"Are you going to side with me immediately," Ayle asked as she paused her movements, "Or are you going to demand an explanation first?"

"The latter." I shook my head, "I doubt it's going to be something either of us can accept, but I want an answer."

There was another low grunt, and then Ayle was striding purposefully around the desk, coming to a stop on my right side. It didn't take much longer before the connection flickered to show the Shaaryak family crest, and then flashed again to show Nynsi Shaaryak seated in an ancient stone chair, every centimeter of it a work of art.

I ignored the display of wealth in favor of regarding my old Tarath'shan. She was wearing a plain maroon dress that showed off her powerful build, and diamonds openly hung from her long ears. Her posture was rigidly neutral, but I saw a tiny flinch around her lower eyes as she took in the pair of us in our full uniform, though she covered it almost instantly. I doubted Ayle even noticed... then again, I'd usually been the only person who could read Nynsi, back when we'd been together.

" _Cieran._ " She nodded politely, electing to lead the conversation. " _Ul Massa._ "

"Nynsi." I replied, my voice flat as I kept my own body rigidly neutral. "Strange to see you on Khar'shan, considering that we're due to begin a summit on the corporation's future tomorrow."

" _I can participate in such a conversation from here as easily as I could in person, and the costs of these transmissions are easily absorbed."_ Nynsi replied, her sibilant voice casual. " _As I told ul Massa, I have contracts with the Hegemony that require direct supervision."_

Shifting my right hand to the armrest on my chair, I started tapping my index finger in slow, annoyed motions. "And that is also occupying your entire senior staff? And Chen? It will be difficult for the Executive Captains to handle their own section of the summit with him missing."

" _Khar'shan remains a difficult world to govern, I require everyone I have available in order to-"_

 _"_ Nynsi." I cut her off, some of my anger bleeding through as my head tilted to the right and my eyes narrowed. "Ayle gave you an order, seconded by Ghai on my behalf, to come _home._ Her command staff and mine both know that you ignored that order in favor of whatever, or _whoever_ , you're fucking around with there. We can't just let this slide without losing face, without implying that we have no authority over you."

There was a definite wince at that, but she didn't lower her head to the left in shame or submission. " _I... see. This is to be an ultimatum, then?"_

"No." Ayle replied, her voice utterly emotionless. "Regardless of the outcome of this conversation, you are no longer an Executive Commander. This is either a demotion or an eviction, and the only reason a demotion is even being offered is because you signed a contract in the name of the Blades, and after the Horizon debacle we can't afford to impugn our reputation further."

"Your principle option." I continued, "Is to accept a transfer to a new Khar'shan branch, and a demotion to Executive Captain. You will maintain command of your first and second regiments, which will be re-branded as the First and Second Hegemony, and be allowed to command the new branch in the name of the Blades. You will, however, be stripped of your nominal fleet assets, and be expected to follow orders in the future."

Nynsi went utterly still in the way that only Batarians could do, then she nodded slowly. " _My corporate assets on Illium?"_

Ayle snorted. "Those that are still in your name remain so, but those that were transferred to the Blades' control will remain so. Whoever we replace you with would be tasked with running them, and would likely live in your former mansion since you marked it as corporate property for use as a command center."

"Your other option," I spoke quietly, "Is eviction. You will be cast out, and a recall order sent to every member of your forces. We will issue a public statement to the Hegemon apologizing, but firmly stating that you did not act with our authority when you signed a contract with him. We will eat the monetary losses and blacklist those corporations you are invested in."

There was an audible, every exhalation. " _You offer me the illusion of choice, Cieran, but either way I end up lost in the desert sands."_

I pursed my lips, "This is the second time you chose politics and political promises over something that I thought you believed in, and the second time I believe that it's going to blow up in your face. Ayle thinks I'm an idiot for even offering a demotion at all, so I would tone down the attitude."

Another flinch. " _I-"_

"Once," Ayle spoke again, real anger rising in her voice. "You told me what you dreamed of. A new Hegemony, in the Terminus, one without the black history of Khar'shan, one that we could create ourselves once the long term threat was dealt with. I _believed_ that the Blades could be the army that would make that happen... yet the moment we reached the Hegemony, you threw that all away. For what? Old names that mean _nothing?_ A broken nation held together by old, senile males clinging to past glory? The chance to roll around in the sand with Del'thran? To hope he can make you swell with his spawn?"

Nynsi's posture shifted rapidly, her own anger evidently rising. " _I am a realist! The Hegemony may be broken but it is repairable, and we have the chance to do in months or years what would have taken decades in the Terminus! I am bleeding assets to win the loyalty of the lower castes, to help them recover. My actions with Callus are a political necessity to help solidify our power, our authority, but I wouldn't expect a liberal, midcaste bitch to under-"_

"Nynsi!" My ears actually rang as I snapped her name, her mouth closing instantly as she seemed to recoil backwards into her chair as I glared furiously at her. "Too. Far. Accept the demotion or face eviction."

Her teal fingers closed tightly around the armrests of her throne, but she forced herself to give a twitching nod. " _I... accept the demotion."_

I jerked my chin in return. "Executive Captain Shaaryak, you are formally charged with opening a branch of the corporation on Khar'shan. The First and Second Illium regiments will be transferred to your command. In light of your past transgressions, you will receive no official salary until such time as the combined Executive Commanders see fit to reinstate you."

Ayle let out a ragged exhalation, and continued for me, "All of your personal assets on Illium will be shipped to Khar'shan, you will be paying for that. As an Executive Captain, you no longer have authority to draw from the primary corporate accounts without our express approval, attempting to do so after this call will see you evicted. Further, you forfeit all seniority to the date where Cieran appoints a replacement for his own second."

Nynsi's fingers curled slightly, then relaxed. " _You are giving Illium to Ghai and T'Laria, then? They will not thank you for it."_

"No." I exhaled, "But since you're keeping Chen, Ghai and I are the only realistic options, and Aria's made it clear that she won't accept Ghai running our branch on Omega due to her relationship with Trena and Sederis."

" _I see."_ Her broad chest moved in a tight breath, and it was clear that she was struggling to keep her posture proper. " _Was there anything else... Commanders?"_

"No." I repeated. "Attend to your contract, we will issue your long term orders once we have completed our summit. Omega out."

A flick of my finger cut the communication without another word, and I almost immediately sank back into my chair with a tired oath.

Beside me, Ayle was silent for several long breaths, then she spoke up. "That was difficult for you, wasn't it?"

I grunted quietly. "I loved her once, so yeah. But... fuck. She's always loved political games and shit, even if she was middling at best at them. Good at concealing her cards and planning the long game, but terrible at short term details. She relied on me for that, and now... shit."

"She has only herself to blame for ending up lost in the desert sands." Ayle replied flatly. "You left her far closer to an oasis than I would have."

"Yeah..." Exhaling between my teeth, I shook my head a little. "Dammit. Have to call Ghai and Trena and tell them, they aren't going to be happy about it."

One of her shoulder's rolled slowly, "Will they take their Lancer team, or will you keep it on Omega?"

"I would rather it go with them, since the only troops we've got on Illium now are a half-trained regiment and a bunch of security guards who aren't good for much more than that job." Reaching up, I rubbed at my forehead. "And now I need a new Executive Captain."

"Ul Thui?" Ayle proposed. "She is your best Senior Captain, and essentially commands two regiments as it is."

I grimaced, "She also left T'Ravt's army because she hated the notion of running a training facility, and that's mostly what our seconds handle. I also don't want to have my first regiment lose my best combat officer two months before we take on Cerberus. It's either Vesik from the Third, or I pull Joa from the _Reliant."_

"Losing your primary admiral in advance of a naval campaign also seems unwise." She pointed out, "Unless you intend to leave her on her ship."

"No... shit. Vesik then, I'll recall her from Nagato." The ache in my forehead settled into a pleasant little migraine. "And I'll have to talk with Nara to make it clear why she was passed over."

Ayle shrugged a little, "She will accept it if you frame it as doing her a favor, leaving her where she won't have to deal with training multiple regiments worth of recruits, and where she has a far greater chance of personal glory."

"Right." I sighed before shaking my head and rising to my feet. "You mind postponing the summit until Vesik gets here? Shouldn't take her more than two days."

"More than acceptable." Her lower eyes flicked up and down me, her tanned lips curling a little. "Want company on your drinking binge?"

I snorted quietly. "We'll call up my team, and grab Idas and Faras, they should have docked by now. It'll be like old times."

* * *

 _ **Next up is Epilogue II: Reforged Blades**_

 _I know I said I wasn't going to go into the old Epilogue format, but it seemed appropriate to tie up a few more plotlines and establish the re-organization and long-term plans for the Silver Blades as a whole. We'll have at least one, possibly two more short epilogues, followed by the teaser. After that, Hellhounds should drop in early to mid June depending on my work schedule and how long of a break I feel like taking._

 _For those curious, I have already put up a Hellhounds thread in the forums, and teased the Act/Operation names as they currently stand in my outline._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_


	37. Epilogue II: Reforged Blades

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Epilogue II: Reforged Blades**

* * *

"The problem." I sighed as I poured more rum for Ayle, and then more wine for Ghai, "Is that none of us is actually qualified to take a promotion."

Ayle pursed her lips as she took the glass, the three of us sitting alone at my favorite bar in Illium Minor. The usual staff had been quietly given the night off, and both my team and Trena's were outside to make sure we weren't disturbed.

"As much as it pains me to say this," She grimaced as she took a measured sip, "You are actually the most qualified at this point."

Ghai sighed and shook her head, "Rudimentary knowledge. Delegation."

I waved a hand at her, "Agreed. Maybe I could handle learning it quickly enough but so could either of you, and you're both at least as qualified to run the Lancer teams."

There was a quiet sigh from Ayle as she nodded tiredly, her lower eyes focusing on her drink. This was our second meeting to try and resolve our leadership issue, in light of both Nynsi's demotion and our need for a consolidated organization. Our first meeting had mostly been focused on the exact facts that we were facing.

First, my existing operations were a problem. My agreements with the Cerberus insiders were something that we _had_ to handle when the call came, and even if we adjusted our leadership, Aria's directive to deal with the Collector threat would remain binding. Whatever we decided would have to reconcile the fact that those two campaigns were going to occupy the majority of our time, attention, and resources.

Second, between the pirate salvage on Novgorod, the ships awarded for our actions in the Hegemony civil war, and the wreck of the _Nassau_ that Severa had paid us with... our fleet was growing rapidly. Ayle wasn't comfortable leaving it all under my express command, since that would leave her ability to project power entirely reliant on me. The idea of separating the ships between the three of us had been floated and then dismissed almost at once. Our entire fleet would have to be together in order to fight both Cerberus and then the Collectors, and spreading them apart just to consolidate in two months struck all of us as idiotic.

Third, Nynsi's departure had left the Illium branch as a giant mess, particularly the administrative section. If we wanted to minimize the damage to the various arms companies that we now found ourselves owning, we had to get on that immediately, and the easiest thing we could think of was to merge Ven's Omega team into the Illium team to take over the now-missing upper leadership. The problem, again, was that Ven answered to me. Transferring him to Ghai wouldn't help, since then he'd just be answering to both of us and wasting too much of his time duplicating reports.

Fourth, the ideal solution would be to reform along the line of Lady T'Ravt's government. One of us would take overall command, and be responsible for running the fleet, the economics, and the commando teams. The others would command the various army forces and act in a similar fashion to vassals, negotiating our own contracts based on guidelines handed down from the boss. The main change would be some measure of internal checks and balances, with the Executive Commanders being able to replace the 'Director' by a unanimous decision.

Fifth, and the current problem, was that Ghai absolutely refused the job, and neither Ayle or I knew much of anything about economics or naval matters. My experience was entirely restricted to delegating that kind of thing to Ven and Joa while picking things up via exposure, but Ayle didn't even have that much.

"Cieran," Ayle sighed, "You're the better option, and I can accept being your subordinate."

I grimaced, "I don't _want_ the bloody job Ayle."

She actually smiled and tilted her head in amusement, though her voice was still slightly strained. "I know. I also know that the moment the Reaper threat is ended that you'll give up your position in favor of taking Voya and vanishing, thus allowing me to take command."

"Ayle..." I shook my head, "You're the senior Executive, and I know you want the position."

"I want the power, the prestige, yes." Her lips twisted, "But I also _don't_ want to be the incompetent leader, stuck being entirely reliant on subordinates while struggling to understand what they're even talking about. Even if I eventually learned, that is the kind of reputation that lingers."

Letting out a heavy breath, I couldn't help but shake my head and sip more of my own rum. In it's own way, I could understand that... Ayle and I were similar in more than a few ways, including our combat tactics, but our leadership styles were vastly different. She liked to manage her subordinates far more directly than I ever bothered to do, and liked to give explicit and direct orders. If she took the post, she wouldn't be able to do that for months, or longer, without sounding like an idiot or making a situation worse.

Especially since we both knew whoever ended up as Director would actually be spending most of their time commanding and training the Lancer teams, which would severely crimp the time available to study and train in other areas.

"And you don't mind me looking like an idiot?" I sighed.

She snorted. "I think you don't give a fuck what anyone else says about you, whereas I am myself. I would likely kill someone within the first few months out of sheer frustration. "

Grimacing at the point, I glanced at Ghai. She sipped from her wine, then rolled a shoulder before raspily murmuring, "Politically sound... Aria, Sederis, T'Ravt would approve. Human term... _pro tem?"_

I blinked, tilting my head in confusion for a bit before the wave hit the beach, "Hm... I could work with that."

Ayle blinked her eyes in sequence, "Pro what?"

"It means placeholder, or temporary." I supplied, "Essentially I'm the acting Director until such time as you feel confident to take the job."

She let out a contemplative, humming noise, taking a slow drink from her glass as she thought on that. "That has potential. I would prefer that status remain private between us, however. It will likely become an unrecognized fact in time, but that is something I could handle."

"If I agree to this," I held up a hand, "I have terms in return."

Both females glanced at one another, then back at me before Ghai nodded and motioned for me to go on.

"First, I will do this for twelve months at the most." I shook my head, "Unless the Reapers show up in the next year, in which case I'm probably stuck. Second, when I'm done, I'm _done_. I'm retiring, quitting, whatever you want to call it. If you absolutely insist, I'll hang around and help train people, advise you, and obviously I'm going to be stuck helping when the Reapers make their move, but I'm not commanding shit after that point... so you'd better make sure Aria tolerates or even likes you."

Ghai rolled her eyes, "Obvious, expected. More?"

I shook my head and glanced at Ayle. She was frowning in thought, but eventually nodded. "A year should be sufficient. I would rather you not leave, obviously, but I do remember that you planned on departing once Krom was dead. A vacation before the Reapers arrive is the least that I could do, assuming the timing works out. I would like you to remain nearby, perhaps to help train Lancer teams, or to develop more weapons... but apart from that, I have no objections."

"Right..." Closing my eyes, I threw back the last of my rum, then promptly got up to get the entire bottle. I was going to need it to get through this shit. Ayle's posture betrayed her open amusement, while Ghai merely smiled over her glass as she paced herself.

A full glass was enough to fortify me to continue, though I still intended to finish the thing as soon as I could. "We're going to have to do something about my post."

Ayle nodded, "I believe our best maneuver would be for me to take command of the Omega branch, and promote Idas to take command on Xentha. That would give me the greatest chances for training with the administration team, and opportunities to speak with Captain T'Voth."

"That works..." I glanced at Ghai, "Agreed?"

"Idas, competent, skilled." She nodded, then smiled again even as she spoke a full sentence. "And her relationship with Faras is good for morale."

I snorted. "That's one way to put it."

From there, we fell into a quick and rapid discussion, mostly between Ayle and myself, as we worked out the exact nature of the re-organization. The entire fleet would be based out of Omega, and I'd promote Joa up to Executive Captain to show her authority over that body tomorrow. Ven would get the same bump, which might assuage the swirling tide he was about to be thrown into. At least with Nynsi no longer staring at every credit coming out of the Illium account I'd be able to utilize that stockpile to expand the administration enough to handle both Illium and Omega.

My only ground forces would be my personal team, Terro's team, and Trena's team, though I would have to replace my old friend so that she could go with Ghai back home. A few minutes of thought and discussion solidified us on putting Chek in command, as he had been scales' second and definitely had the experience.

"Does Illium Minor have the facilities to coordinate both these new roles and the regimental forces?" Ayle's lower eyes glanced at me as she asked the question.

I pursed my lips in thought. "We should... There's old slave pens and markets near the docks that we left abandoned as a warning, but if we tear all that down we could definitely throw up another command center. A dedicated one at that."

Ayle narrowed her eyes, "That would work... I can move in here, and Ven ul Thusan can continue to run administration from his offices, while you move to the new facility. T'Voth will need a staff to coordinate the fleet, and having them with you near the docks would be ideal. We'll also need room for the Lancer hall, once we move... everything from Xentha."

All three of us fell silent for a long moment at that. She didn't mean moving the random gear and debris, and the armory... she meant the remembrance hall and its attendant plaques and trophies.

"I'll tell Ven." I spoke quietly, taking a measured sip from my rum, maintaining the pleasant buzz but not going farther. "To make sure that there is an appropriate location in the blueprints."

She nodded again, letting out a ragged breath before pushing on. "Good. I think we also have a chance to expand a bit further, with smaller, limited branches put on worlds that can support them. Redcliffe for example, or Korlus."

Ghai cocked her head to one side, "Shaaryak, Khar'shan?"

"Something like that." Ayle split her eyes between us as she spoke, clearly eager to move on from the sensitive topic of the hall. "There's still enough chaos in the rimward and coreward Terminus that we could easily support branches there, taking contracts to bolster Sederis or T'ravt's defenses."

I hummed quietly in thought. "I could see that working... Cear'tol would be another potential location, and would likely be able to provide more manpower. Consider that a long term option, I want to focus on building our numbers up on Illium first."

That drew a grimace from Ghai, she clearly didn't appreciate being reminded that her total forces were a few thousand security guards plus one half-trained regiment. "Formation types? Changes?"

I grimaced. "All of our existing units have the same formation, excepting the battle-suits for Ayle's... _Idas'_ first five regiments. Changing that up will be a pain in the ass."

Ayle cocked her head in polite disagreement, "All the more reason to do it now. You can't deny the tactical flexibility of having light regiments would be worthwhile."

"But how many?" I shifted my posture to show my concern, "Would we modify existing units that are already formed? Or just draw up new ones in the new formation... and what would that formation even be?"

The Batarian woman leaned back in her chair, taking a delaying sip from her drink before speaking again, "I believe that some degree of specialization would not be remiss. While our current forces are fairly well rounded, the lack of dedicated formations was something that annoyed me during the Hegemony campaigns. I frequently had to break units apart simply to cover more ground or objectives."

Ghai frowned a little, cocking her head politely. "How?"

"The Xenthan regiments should undergo a slight shift." She replied, "I would like for one of the Hunting companies from each to be removed, dispatched to Illium, and replaced with a dedicated combat-engineering company. A focus on entrenchment and anti-armor weapons would do well to bolster those forces as heavy infantry detachments."

Musing on that, I settled back into my chair before nodding slowly. "I can see the benefits of that. Still leaves Idas with a decent cache of biotics and light forces, but puts more emphasis on what the core of the regiment is best at."

"Precisely." Ayle dipped her head respectfully to me, "I would like to remove a single line company from each of Omega's six regiments, and also send them to Illium. We will have to replace them with engineering forces. That will give the local units the most flexibility of our regiments, and I believe they should receive the next shipments of power armor."

"Hmm..." Our Asari companion let out a quiet hum before murmuring actual words, "Solid core to build from, but lots of light infantry. Eclipse, Republics, both superior, both most likely opposition."

I glanced at Ayle, then shook my head, "With the transfers, you can put at least two heavy regiments together. Use them plus the Third Illium as your main force, maybe build up to eight in total to match Omega's total. The rest of your hunting units could be used for Nara's concept; light response teams."

From there, our discussion shifted to firm details and hard numbers, which lasted until most of my rum was gone and Ghai had to keep a hand on my shoulder to stop me from falling off of my chair. Eventually Voya and Shyeel showed up to drag me back to my room, both of them groaning as they got the details from an amused Ayle, who I was pretty sure had been refilling my bottle when I hadn't been looking.

"If this is how he acts when he gets promoted," Shyeel, both of her, were grinning like idiots as they pulled me along. "I hate to wonder what he'll be like when you propose to formally bond with him."

"Shut up and walk faster." Voya growled in reply, "The faster we get him to our room, the faster I can throw him into the shower and beat him up for being a drunken _keshin_."

* * *

 _ **Next up is Epilogue III: Hellhounds**_

 _And Cieran has finally been forced into actually commanding the blades, at least temporarily, and he's obviously not thrilled about it. Next chapter will be the last, being a short tease for Hellhounds._

 _Trying something new in the review response section, focusing on responding to/expanding on topics instead of direct responses. Another important thing to remember is that, with Shepard now two months away from resurrection, Cieran and the others are more than aware that the Reaper threat is becoming a near and real thing._

 _ **Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

 _ **P a treon Zach_K2V**_

 _Thanks, Kat_

* * *

 _ **Review Responses:**_

Reaper Indoctrination – For those curious about this effect on the Hegemony, one of the first chapters of TWF:7 is going to cover a time-line of the Hegemony War. The aftermath section is going to include information on the Leviathan of Dis and the artifacts/tech that were removed from it. And no, Nynsi is not currently indoctrinated, neither is the new Hegemon.

Nynsi v Ayle/Cieran – Nynsi convinced Ayle to form the Blades into a full PMC (rather than the commando team that ayle and cieran were fine with it being) largely on the idea that, once the reapers were defeated, the Blades could be used to help create a new liberal-equalitist batarian nation in the Terminus. From a strictly rational perspective, Nynsi is correct in shifting her focus to repairing/reforming a vulnerable Hegemony in the wake of its civil war.

The problem is that Ayle _hates_ the Hegemony for her past, and Cieran doesn't _care_ about it, and Nynsi made absolutely zero effort to bring at least Ayle around to her ideas, instead just going ahead and doing what was best for her family name and her long term goals and ignoring Ayle when she tried to get her to follow orders.

Is Nynsi going to be an enemy now? That's harder to say. She's still a member of the blades and isn't likely to quit, being a mercenary commander gives her advantages in the Hegemony and the Blades have a good reputation amongst Batarians thanks to her name and the number of Reyja'krem running it. And she still does care for Cieran, in her own way. Any 'payback' she offers is going to be mitigated by her focus on Hegemony politics/reforms, and war prep for the reapers.

If they all survive that particular invasion, the situation might change.


	38. Epilogue III: Awakening

I don't own the Mass Effect.

* * *

 **Epilogue III: Awakening**

* * *

A heavy shudder interrupted my search for the nearest hangar or escape pods, a woman's breathy voice coming from an unseen speaker. " _Boarders on levels four, five, and six! All Centurion teams report to assigned zones! Repeat, boarders on levels four, five, and six! All non-combat personnel to escape positions!"_

A quick search to find where the hell I was made me grimace as I realized that I was on level five. Normally I'd be all-in on supporting anyone attacking Cerberus, but considering that I was naked with only a sword for a weapon, I wasn't really eager to jump into the fray. Tracing my little map, I exhaled as I found the nearest hangar bay. Even better, there was a row of escape pods near it, though they were on level four.

Either way, that seemed like my best target.

Closing the tool down, I kept it in hand as I picked up the sword again. It was a single-edged model, and well balanced as I picked it up again. I was a middling fencer at best, and this thing was more suited to kendo, but it was better than the little knife that I'd left in the operative's throat. Balancing the weapon on my right shoulder, I inhaled sharply, then got my bare ass moving.

My back tightened after about five steps into the hallway as I heard the song of battle starting up somewhere in the distance. Low thuds and cracks, accompanied by more rapid staccato beats, an occasional high pitched sound that always seemed to cut off quickly.

I evidently had less time than I thought.

Sprinting down the hall to next hatchway, I opened it cautiously, checking both directions before nodding and following the new hallway to my left. The sounds of battle grew louder as I moved, but not so much as to warn me that I was in immediate danger. Moving past more conference and storage rooms, I slowed up a bit as I neared another glass hatchway.

I expected another decontamination room and lab, and found the former, but instead of the latter there was... I jerked back from the sight of a young man in a white and black uniform as he sprinted down another hallway, firing a gun blindly behind him as he moved. I wasn't fast enough, and in short order I heard a pounding on the glass.

Blinking, I risked a quick look around the corner. He'd fumbled his gun and was frantically working a physical key-card through a slot as best as his shaking hands were letting him.

"Please!" His eyes, entirely white around blue, locked onto mine as he fought with the controls, dropping his card in favor of desperately clawing at the glass. "Please! Oh god, I don't want to die! You have to save me! I helped! I helped save you! I helped bring... no! NO!"

He whipped around, hearing something that I couldn't, and then tried to duck to his left. Blood abruptly fountained out from his throat, his body collapsing as his hands rose to try and staunch the flow. It was pointless, I could tell that even with a single glance. Both of his arteries were open, he'd be dead in a matter of seconds.

More important was the shimmering figure appearing above him, the camouflage system failing as blood disrupted the system.

A Quarian woman stepped over the twitching body, paying the dying young man about as much attention as I would a piece of trash on the ground. Her lean body was covered in a black suit, upon which form fitting armor plates were colored a blue only a shade lighter and edged in a crisp silver. An armored trench coat of similar coloration kicked around her ankles as she moved, making her lithe form seem far more imposing. Her mask was as armored as the rest of her, lacking both the traditional _reik_ and the life support cables, with only a narrow slit making her glowing eyes visible. Both of them were locked onto me as a hand negligently sheathed the mono-molecular dagger she'd just used to execute her prey.

Her necklace was more filled than I remembered, to the point where she'd added a second as a belt around her waist. Both were festooned with shards of Krogan crests, Turian claws, what looked like polished Batarian teeth, and... dog tags.

I remembered the bitch even without seeing the logos on her coat.

Voya'chi vas Xentha. Trophy Taker. Assassin. Mercenary. Unstable bitch. And considering that she was armed and armored, she was not someone I wanted to be in the same solar system with when I was naked and equipped with a sword I barely knew how to use.

We stared at each other for all of a second... and then I turned and took off at a dead sprint, praying that I would make it to the escape pods before she, or her allies, could find me.

* * *

 **End Another Realm VI: Chevalier**

* * *

 _And so the shameless teasing concludes, along with this story. The next one in line, Hellhounds,_ _is likely to be a ridiculous beast... I'm going to try and keep the pacing relatively quick, but the amount of things going on are likely going to mean it's going to go on for a while regardless. The current plan is for six acts, plus interlude sections bridging them, so it's likely going to be the longest story that I've written so far._

 _As usual, specialized thanks to The Blocked Writer for serving as my beta, keeping me on track, and yelling at me when I don't quite have things correct. More thanks to GreaterGoodIreland for creating the TvTropes page._ _General thanks to everyone who took the time to read and review this story, every new review is a bit of extra motivation for me to keep working on it, so thank you again._

 _Please feel free to check out the series forums here, to discuss either AR or Mass Effect in general. Also please r_ _emember that I'm more than happy to talk with anyone, so feel free to PM me with thoughts, questions, or just to chat about the series._

 _Semper Victoria,_

 _Katkiller V_


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